SANFL Round 10: North Adelaide kept goalless after half time in dour loss to Sturt
North Adelaide led Sturt at halftime before imploding with a goalless second half at Prospect Oval.
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North Adelaide’s goalless second half proved pivotal in a dour 20-point loss to Sturt at Prospect Oval that leaves the reigning premier languishing at the bottom of the leader.
The Double Blues kicked 3.5 to nothing in a crucial third quarter in front of a bumper Roosters’ crowd, as the home side could only eek out five points after half time.
The first quarter was all about the mercurial Lewis Hender though who was involved in three goals: feeding one off, threading the needle from the boundary then snapping another.
It was a similar story up the other end, with Josh Hone playing a hand in a stack of attacking forays, kicking one and setting up another for Sam Colquhoun.
When captain Max Thring also slotted one from the boundary line, the home side had established a handy 14-point buffer.
It was more of the same in the second, with Hender putting the Roosters 22 points up with a bomb from outside 50 and the reigning premiers were starting to believe.
And then the Roosters stopped as the Double Blues slotted three unanswered majors.
A free kick to Ben Jarman in front of the sticks in the dying seconds gave the Roosters an important 11-point lead at half time.
However, the Roosters lost all momentum in the third, as the Double Blues thrived off the back of a dominant Danyle Pearce and Colquhoun and claimed the lead for the first time through James Battersby’s first goal.
And when he snapped brilliantly early in the fourth, it broke the back of The Roosters who failed to take their chances to claw their way back into the contest.
Hone’s fourth iced the contest.
With no chance of playing finals this year, North Adelaide coach Josh Carr said he would continue to reward in-form players.
“We are sitting bottom of the ladder and we will work our butts off to make sure we don’t finish there,” Carr said.
He said a hamstring injury to Mitch Clisby in the first quarter — who was matched up on Hone — and “simple skill errors” were pivotal to their eighth consecutive loss.
“The third quarter killed us, we made one mistake and it turned into three, four,” Carr said.
Sturt coach Nathan Grima said his midfield — through Pearce, Colquhoun and Zane Kirkwood — turned the game for the visitors.
“We believe our best is good enough,” Grima said.
“(I) put it on a few guys at half time to give us a lift.”
SCOREBOARD
STURT: 2.2 5.4 8.9 10.10 70
NORTH ADELAIDE: 4.2 7.3 7.3 7.8 50
BEST — Sturt: Hone, Colquhoun, Battersby, Pearce, Kirkwood, Stephens. North Adelaide: Allmond, Tropiano, Hender, Thring, Verity. Neagle.
GOALS — Sturt: Hone 4, Colquhoun, Battersby 2, Greenslade, Lochowiak. North Adelaide: Hender 3, Laurie, Thring, Schwarz, Jarman.
UMPIRES — Lewis, Scott, Broadbent.
CROWD — 2518 at Prospect Oval.
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