SANFL 2019: West Adelaide v Adelaide - Round 9

Adelaide “stole” victory by six points over a brave West Adelaide, coach Heath Younie says.

Adelaide's Shane McAdam breaks away from West's Jack Evans. Picture: AAP/Dean Martin.

West Adelaide’s winless stretch has extended to five games, as a wayward Adelaide held on in the dying minutes to claim a six-point victory.

In a genuine arm wrestle, where neither team enjoyed a lead larger than 12 points, Adelaide finally cured their goal kicking ills in the final quarter with a crucial 5.1. to steal the game.

However, after losing key players Will Snelling and John Noble to the AFL mid-season draft, Bloods coach Gavin Colville was proud of his charges who were clapped off the field by a band of loyal supporters.

“Our contested ball was much better than what it was last week. You never know if you should be happy with a loss or not, “Colville said.

“Aussie Rules is about honest effort… and I can’t question that today.”

Westies, who have not tasted victory since Easter, were led by three goals to small forward Hugh Haysman while Patrick Wilson had it 38 times for the visitors.

It was anything but pretty early, with both sides burning easy, albeit rare, chances to score majors.

The goal drought was finally broken in the 16th minute through Chayce Jones, followed less than a minute later by Tyson Stengle.

However, eight-gamer Thomas Pillion, then Haysman, slotted steadiers before the quarter time bell.

It was much of the same in the second quarter, with both sides fluffing easy opportunities and free-flowing play hard to spot.

With both sides sharing two goals apiece, the lead changed hands several times.

A brace from Haysman in the third term kickstarted a Westies revival, pushing their lead out to a then game high 11 points.

It could have been more but a Jonathon Beech kick after the bell was tapped over the line.

The visitors hit back in the final term with a Fogarty special from the boundary line, and another from Stratchan - both fed by Gibbs passes - and the scores were suddenly level.

It looked like the Crows would finally kick away through majors to Jacobs, Himmelberg and McAdam.

But The Bloods kept coming. Hupfield brought the margin back to six points with his second, but the home side ran out of time with the ball teasingly trapped in their forward 50.

Dropped to the SANFL for the third time this year, Bryce Gibbs amassed 29 touches, including 17 handpasses, and set up two crucial goals in the final quarter with precision passes.

Adelaide coach Heath Younie would not be drawn if Gibbs had done enough to win himself an AFL recall.

“I’m not going to speak about individuals,” Younie said.

“He contributed, so did a number of other players. Match committee will make their decision during the week.”

Younie hinted his team may have gotten out of jail, after imploring his team at three quarter time to focus on their strengths.

“Attitude and effort, things they can control,” he said.

“We probably stole that win in the end. But we’ll take two points and move forward.

“I thought at times we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. They put in an arm wrestle.

“It took a really strong performance in the last quarter to get the win.”

Colville said he was proud of his team and singled out the raw talents of Isaac Johnson and Thomas Pillion with just 17 games between them.

SCOREBOARD

WEST 2.2 4.4 8.5 10.6 (66)

ADELAIDE 2.4 4.8 5.11 10.12 (72)

BEST — West: Stevens, Turner, Haysman, Batley, Wasley-Black. Adelaide: Wilson, Gibbs, Wright, Davis, Poholke, Jones.

GOALS — West: Haysman, Hupfeld, Beech 2, Pillion, Batley, Johnson. Adelaide: Stengle 2, Jones, Gibbs, Poholke, Fogarty, Jacobs, McAdam, Himelberg, Strachan.

UMPIRES: Lewis, Bennett, Hundertmark