SANFL Round 13 wrap: Sturt’s on the rise, Glenelg’s improvement and a young Crow impresses headlines five things we learnt
Two-time Sturt SANFL premiership mentor Martin Mattner has turned the Double Blues’ 2021 campaign around after a number of players left Unley Oval. WATCH LIVE STREAM REPLAY
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MARTIN Mattner is working miracles at Sturt for a second time.
In his first stint as coach of the Double Blues he led them to consecutive flags in his first two years in charge in 2016 and 2017 before a fourth-placed finish in 2018,
Mattner, a Sturt premiership player in 2002, then joined Adelaide as an AFL assistant coach, spending a year-and-a-half at the club before losing his position during last year’s Covid cuts.
He returned to coach Sturt this season following the axing of Nathan Grima and inherited a young squad that he publicly stated would take time to develop.
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“The demographic of the group is a lot different to when I took over in 2016 and now my focus is really trying to build this group to be here for the next 10 years,’’ Mattner said when taking on the job.
Sturt has been on the wrong side of the win-loss column since losing its opening two games to premier Woodville-West Torrens and Norwood but started to show some promising signs for the future before seemingly having its heart ripped out at the AFL’s contentious mid-season draft.
Two of its best, most exciting young players – midfielder Jed McEntee and forward Ash Johnson – were selected by Port Adelaide and Collingwood respectively in a major setback to Mattner’s rebuilding plans.
Their losses came on the back of the shock, in-season retirement of dual Magarey Medallist and premiership captain Zane Kirkwood because of a chronic back injury and season-ending shoulder injury to star recruit and premiership midfielder Patrick Wilson.
Two weeks ago dual premiership forward and 2018 Ken Farmer Medallist Mark Evans pulled the pin on his stellar career because of a chronic hamstring injury.
The setbacks would have been enough for any coach to throw his hands in the air, give up on the season and put all his energies into next year.
But in a remarkable turnaround and show of character, the losses only appear to have galvanised the Double Blues.
After sitting 2-7 and seemingly out of finals contention, they have reeled off three consecutive victories against finals contenders Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval, South Adelaide at Unley and Norwood by 23 points in shocking conditions at a muddy Norwood Oval last Friday night.
Suddenly, they find themselves just a win outside of the top five with a blockbuster home game against unbeaten Glenelg on Saturday.
Mattner said he gave the Redlegs clash, played in hail, the big-game treatment.
“We set ourselves for the game as a really big one,” he said.
“It gets us back in the hunt for a spot in the finals.
“The players embraced the whole game. The conditions were not good at some stages, and we talked about the way we needed to play. They executed really well.”
Mattner heaped praise on his young group, saying they had never lost faith in the system he had preached and were growing together nicely.
“They are starting to put into practice the things we have been working on since the pre-season and after being very competitive early in the year we're starting to get some reward for effort,’’ he said.
“Obviously we’ve got another big test this weekend because Glenelg has proven it is the best team in the competition but we got close to beating them last time (losing by four points at the Bay in round six) and we're really looking forward to the opportunity to test ourselves against them again.’’
RECORD BREAKERS SEEK IMPROVEMENT
GLENELG chalked up a club record 12th consecutive win to start a season when it came from behind at the last change to beat Adelaide by 15 points last Saturday but coach Brett Hand said his side still had room for improvement.
“We still have bits to work on,” he said after his side’s strong eight-goals-to-four last term.
“We got beaten around the ball again, so that’s two weeks in a row now, so we have to talk about that.
“We still aren’t moving the footy as well as I’d like, there are signs of it, which is good, but we still have work to do.’’
Hand said that his side hadn’t focused on the record but said it was a nice achievement for his group.
“It’s something to be proud of as a footy club,” he said.
“We don’t talk about it internally, you don’t win premierships in June or July and we still have a way to go, but it is a good group of players.”
Hand was especially pleased with his side’s defence in the hard-fought win, with a host of Tigers stepping up in the absence of regulars Michael Virgin (hamstring), Brodie Newman (ankle) and ex-Kangaroo Sam Durdin, who was a late withdrawal with a hamstring complaint.
“I thought our guys were great back there. Max Proud was super on Elliot Himmelberg, especially given we had a few guys missing,” Hand said.
“We had Brad McCarthy and Callum Park come in and play their roles and it’s great to show the depth we have got.
“When guys get the chance, they need to stand up and do it and they did that.’’
YOUNG CROWS IMPRESS
THE Crows had their two-game SANFL winning streak ended by the Tigers but there was much to like about the performance, with a handful of players putting their hand up for AFL selection.
Returning from injury, veteran forward Tom Lynch had 17 disposals and kicked three goals in his first game in more than two months while small forward Lachie Murphy flourished in a midfield role, having 20 disposals, eight inside 50s, five clearances and laying 13 tackles in a complete display.
“With Luke Pedlar and Jackson Hately out, we got an opportunity to put ‘Murph’ in the middle and it was a good string for him to add to his bow and might come to fruition for him at AFL level,’’ Crows assistant coach Brent Reilly said.
Two younger Crows also shone in attack, with Brayden Cook kicking four goals and Lachlan Gollant three.
“Lachie was excellent, we gave him the job on (rebounding Glenelg key defender) Chris Curran and he did an excellent job,” Reilly said.
“Cooky is a real talent and we saw some of that and what he can do. He is a long-term prospect and if he keeps playing more games like that, he will get an opportunity at the next level.”
Defenders Will Hamill and Andrew McPherson also produced strong games while James Borlase competed hard against dual Ken Farmer Medalllist Liam McBean, restricting him to two goals.
“I thought Borlase was great. He is working on his aggression and being hard to play against,” Reilly said.
“You just see him getting better and better each week. It’s a real credit to him, he’s worked hard at his game and I gave him the job on McBean and thought he did a great job.’’
MAGAREY MEDALLIST SETS SIGHTS EVEN HIGHER
KNOWN as the “barometer” down at Prospect Oval, North Adelaide coach Jacob Surjan says reigning Magarey Medallist Campbell Combe is completely “self-driven” to better the heights of last year.
The Roosters, who were particularly vulnerable after a 2-5 start to the season – albeit with four losses by 11 points or under and a 31-point defeat to Glenelg their only relative blowout – have a 4-1 formline since.
It obviously doesn’t paint the entire picture but over the past five matches, Combe’s average disposals have jumped from 24.1 to 26.6 while clearances have remained stable at six.
In his Magarey year, Combe averaged 23 touches and 7.4 clearances.
More broadly, Combe has seen an increase in average kicks, marks, inside 50s and overall Dream Team points this season compared to last year.
On Saturday against West Adelaide, he had a season-high 39 disposals while kicking his first goal of the season midway through the final quarter.
Surjan said his star midfielder, who still makes the twice-weekly trek from his home at Crystal Brook, would regularly seek him out for a chat about plotting the downfall of the opposition’s best players.
“He’s self-driven and self-motivated. He talks to me about who is the best clearance player every week,” Surjan said.
“He wants the challenge of beating those guys week in and week out. He’s a fantastic competitor.”
Surjan was seen applauding in the coaches box after Combe snapped his brilliant goal out of a pack.
It brought a rare smile to the face of Surjan on Saturday after he had been noticeably agitated in the coaches box after the Roosters over possessed the ball in the first half under some impressive Westies pressure.
The visitors had also kicked a wayward 11.13 until Combe’s first major.
“We were thrilled for him,” he said.
“If there’s one thing we’ll be practising next week, it’s goalkicking.
“We didn’t do that as well as we would have liked, especially in that last quarter (3.5).
“(But Combe) had a fantastic day. A lot of ground balls and hard ball gets, he wins a lot of contested ball and is a real barometer for our group.”
HIGH-LEAPING BULLDOG CONTINUES TO RISE
CENTRAL District teenager Leek Alleer continues to impress and will undoubtedly have AFL recruiters closely monitoring his progress.
His high-flying qualities in defence were again on show in the Dogs’ narrow loss to Port Adelaide at Elizabeth Oval on Saturday, with coach Paul Thomas describing him as a “super athlete’’.
“He is a very intelligent learner of the game and is going to get better and better,” Thomas said.
Asked if Alleer had licence to continually fly for marks, which has become a trademark of his game, Thomas said his first job was to defend.
But he is a fan of Alleer’s desire for the screamer.
“The other night he smoked an intercept mark,” Thomas said.
“He just needs to get the confidence to do it more.”
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