SANFL 2023 Grand Final: Sturt v Glenelg
It took four attempts but Glenelg has finally beaten Sturt in a SANFL grand final – conquering the Double Blues by 24 points at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
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It took four attempts but Glenelg has finally beaten Sturt in a SANFL grand final.
Forty-nine years after the Tigers lost the 1974 premiership decider to the Double Blues – Sturt’s third grand final victory against them in six years – the boys from the Bay gained some long awaited redemption.
They on Sunday beat the Double Blues at their own game, dominating at the coalface through a winning midfield led by Corey Lyons and getting a best afield display from Ken Farmer Medallist Lachie Hosie, who bagged six goals, to win by 24 points at Adelaide Oval.
It was Glenelg’s sixth premiership and second in five years in what was its 20th grand final appearance.
Bridesmaids so many times before, the tenacious Tigers ripped the game from Sturt’s grasp early and then held it at arm’s length throughout in warm, 28-degree conditions.
The final margin probably flattered the Double Blues, despite them having one more scoring shot.
Glenelg, with on-ballers Lyons, Cole Gerloff, Matthew Snook and Brett Turner ferocious at the contest, kicked the only four goals of the first quarter to open up a 24-point lead.
Then, every time Sturt looked like getting back into the game, first-year coach Darren Reeves’ men found something.
They burst to a game-high 41-point lead early in the third quarter and held sway by 37 points at the final change before closing the match down.
The Double Blues, chasing their 16th flag, fought the game out valiantly, kicking 2.8 to 1.1 in the last term, but it was too little, too late.
The Tigers – this year’s minor premier after posting a 15-3 home-and-away season record – set the tone early, winning the contested ball and ensuring they would stop Sturt from strangling them.
They signalled their intent from the opening bounce, playing tough, crash-and-bash football and winning the clearances against Sturt’s dynamic midfield duo of Tom Lewis and James Battersby.
Glenelg drew first blood through a brilliant snap from the northwestern pocket from Hosie, who won the Jack Oatey Medal as best afield, as the Double Blues missed opportunities at the other end, with Connor McFadyen and James Richards both hitting the post.
The Tigers on-ball dominance soon paid dividends with Hosie kicking his second and Luke Reynolds, who bagged three for the game, and Gerloff also hitting the scoreboard as they skipped to a 24-point lead.
The one-sided statistics told the story of their opening quarter dominance as they led clearances 13-5, inside 50s 12-6, 86-54 and marks 24-8.
Sturt wrestled back control at ground level early in the second quarter, with Battersby and Lewis starting to have an influence, but it wasn’t able to hurt Glenelg on the scoreboard.
The Double Blues kicked three consecutive behinds before Oliver Grivell booted their first major from a downfield free kick eight minutes into the term.
In contrast, the Tigers were making the most of their chances and clever snap shot goals from Hosie and Reynolds and a superb 40m set shot from just inside the boundary line from Lyons, from his 17th disposal, pushed their lead out to 29 points at the long break.
Glenelg appeared to break the game wide open early in the third stanza when James Bell and Hosie goaled to push its advantage out to 41 points.
The Blues kicked three consecutive goals to close to within 23 points but the Tigers, as they did all day, responded to march to victory.
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GLENELG 4.3 7.5 12.7 13.8 (86)
STURT 0.3 2.6 6.6 8.14 (62)
BEST – Glenelg: Hosie, Lyons, Snook, Gerloff, Turner, Bell, Reynolds, Proud. Sturt: Battersby, Dakin, Lewis, Edmonds, Voss.
GOALS – Glenelg: Hosie 6, Reynolds 3, Gerloff, Lyons, Bell, Allen. Sturt: Mathews 2, Grivell, Burrows, Richards, Coomblas, Frederick, Voss.
UMPIRES – Morgan, Bowen, Scott.
CROWD – 33,049 at Adelaide Oval.
JACK OATEY MEDAL: Lachie Hosie (Glenelg).
Glenelg’s Lachie Hosie wins Jack Oatey Medal
Glenelg forward Lachie Hosie’s football life for the past two years has focused on redemption.
The flamboyant star, this year’s Ken Farmer Medallist as the state league’s leading goalkicker, had doubted himself to perform on the “big stage” following the grand final defeat to Woodville-West Torrens in 2021.
The pain of that hefty loss had not deserted him, until Sunday when his heavy influence in the Tigers’ grand final triumph over Sturt at Adelaide Oval was recognised with the Jack Oatey Medal for a best-on ground performance.
“A lot of us took that loss in 2021 personally,” said Hosie, who missed the Tigers’ 2019 grand final triumph after being picked up by North Melbourne in the mid-season draft.
“I had a dirty day in 2021, did not go near the ball. People talk and you listen to that.
“I wanted to prove them wrong, that is why to stand up on the big stage and contribute to a premiership is what means the most to me.
“That loss, and I did not have the greatest day, has sat with me until now and this is redemption. I have been striving for this and it does not seem real right now.”
Hosie created havoc for the Double Blues defence and finished with six goals. His opening goal seven minutes into the title decider was typical Hosie, a stunning snap from deep in a pocket.
He admits he enjoyed the goal. However, it was two goals in the third term when the Double Blues were making a run which gave him most satisfaction.
“In clutch moments, that’s what you want to do as a forward,” Hosie said. “I play alongside two really, really good forwards in Liam (McBean) and Luke (Reynolds) and they talk about the three-headed monster, if one goes quiet the other two get you.”
Hosie was in the crowd when the Tigers raised the Cup in glory and he celebrated “hard with them”.
“It is going to be a hell of a lot better this time,” he said. “To be a Jack Oatey Medallist, I can’t fathom that.
“I love this club so much, love the boys. This is very special.”
How Tigers coach scored a premiership in his first year
Victorious Glenelg coach Darren Reeves said he had never seen his dad cry before - until Sunday.
The first-year Tigers mentor, who wasn’t appointed coach until just before Christmas last year, said his dad, Geoff, broke down in tears, overcome with pride, after Glenelg won its sixth flag.
“The thing that tells me the significance of it all is that I haven’t seen my dad cry my whole life and he was in tears after the game,’’ Reeves said.
“And he’s not a football person, he hasn’t grown up with football or really understood it, but I think that probably tells a story of the significance of what we have been able to achieve.’’
Reeves, a wannabe Test cricket wicket-keeper who spent a year at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide in 1997, joined a small group of coaches to lead Glenelg to a premiership - Bruce McGregor, Neil Kerley, Graham Cornes (two) and Mark Stone.
Remarkably, he did it in his first year - a year in which the Bays clinched the league/reserves premiership double for the first time in their history after they beat Sturt in both grand finals.
“On the day I got appointed to the job I walked into the changerooms and on the board there were four premiership coaches in club history, which sort of blew my mind a little bit because I hadn’t looked at it too closely,’’ Reeves said.
“To be the fifth premiership coach of the footy club, when they’ve been so hard to win, with this group, which is just phenomenal, not just the players but the whole footy club, it’s incredible.
“They are hungry for success and haven’t been able to get it over the past couple of years, but they just went to work on getting to the point where we are now.’’
Reeves, who replaced Brett Hand as coach after he had irreconcilable differences with the playing group, brought a harder edge and a more defensive game plan to Glenelg, which he knew had talent but felt needed to play more finals-type football.
The Tigers finished the minor round as the No. 1 defensive team in the league.
“I knew they were a talented list and my grounding and learning over the past few years, losing some grand finals at North Adelaide (as assistant coach), probably taught me a little bit,’’ he said.
“But I had an idea of how I wanted to play, I think it fitted really well with the playing group and talent that we had. I just needed to get them to buy in, we trained it from day one, and to their credit they have been phenomenal.
“On the big stage of a grand final, it held up for us.’’
‘We were not good enough, not good enough today’
Sturt coach Marty Mattner is already looking forward to next season with extreme optimism.
Just minutes after retreating to the changerooms following the grand final loss to Glenelg at Adelaide Oval, Mattner spoke with tremendous enthusiasm for the future at Unley.
There was no hiding the disappointment of defeat on the state league’s final day.
Mattner even confessed his side was not good enough. But he talked about the hunger for success in a youthful group and its growing development.
“We were not good enough, not good enough today,” he said. “We have got to get better.
“But what I am proud of, three years ago we made a decision to play a lot of kids. Josh Shute, Casey Voss, Will Coomblas, Tom Lewis, Lachie Burrows, these guys, and we are now seeing the fruits of that. We had a tough first year and did not win many games, although we were competitive.
“Last year we did enough to get in the finals, this year we did enough to get in. But that experience is good for this group.
“We have just got to capitalise on it now. We have a great group of kids. Our reserves side played today and I know they got beaten. But they are a young group.
“And they are a driven group as well. That is what I am pleased about at the moment, we have a young driven group which I’m really excited about.”
Mattner said he had been looking forward to this season despite last year’s loss and this summer will be no different.
Missed opportunities proved extremely costly in the grand final loss, according to Mattner.
He mentioned stray kicking for goal in the first quarter denied the Double Blues a chance to apply scoreboard pressure.
“There were moments today, moments when we did not execute well enough in front of goal, execute some one-on-one things, some structural things,” Matthew lamented.
“That is experience in the heat of battle in a grand final. If you don’t quite get things right, especially against a team like Glenelg, they hurt you.
“These things get magnified larger in a grand final than they do in the regular round. We will learn from that and get better. It is a learning experience.”
Mattner said no player had approached him to say they would not be returning next year, although Patrick Wilson will be sidelined due to an ACL injury.
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The game as it happened
Glenelg is the SANFL champion after dominating the grand final to conquer Sturt by 24 points at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
The Tigers, the minor premier, led by 24 points at quarter time and never allowed the Double Blues to seriously threaten for the title.
Lachlan Hosie bagged six goals in a brilliant performance deep in attack, while Corey Lyons was outstanding on the ball.
Tigers close in
The Tigers were closing in on another flag, having a commanding 33-point lead midway through the final quarter.
They had all the answers and Matthew Allen put the game all but out of reach of the Double Blues when he nailed the Tigers’ 13th goal.
Hosie kicks six
The final two goals of the third quarter, both kicked by Hosie, enabled the Tigers to have total control at three quarter time with a 37-point buffer.
Hosie was a leading contender for the Jack Oatey Medal with six goals, with teammate Lyons his main opposition for best-on ground honours.
Glenelg 12-7 (79) Sturt 6.6 (42)
Tigers in control
The Tigers put one hand on the premiership cup at halftime when they surged to a 29-point lead.
Dominating clearances, the Tigers had all the answers as they took control of the grand final on then back of seven goals, while restricting the Double Blues to only two.
Corey Lyons had a game high 17 possessions, and he nailed a stunning goal from near the boundary late in the term to further dent the Double Blues hopes.
Glenelg 7.5 (47) Sturt 2.6 (18)
Blues wrestle back
The Double Blues were able to wrestle back some control in the second quarter, finally getting some rhythm into its game.
Poor discipline by the Tigers proved costly eight minutes into the second term when Oliver Grivell took advantage of a downfield free kick to nail the Double Blues’ first goal.
But Luke Reynolds responded for the Tigers, then Hosie kicked his third goal after 20 minutes to have the Tigers well and truly back in control.
Final teams revealed
Sturt is hoping to avoid a nightmare 2023 grand final series with a victory over minor premier Glenelg.
The Double Blues were beaten in the under 18 and under 16 premiership deciders last week, and lost the reserves grand final to the Tigers by 10 points.
There were no surprises when the final teams were revealed an hour before the opening bounce at Adelaide Oval.
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