Second-half Sturt blast blows away West Adelaide

SHARP skills and an even team effort helped Sturt maintain its grip on top spot, as the Blues dished out an 89-point thumping of West Adelaide at Unley Oval on Saturday.

Sturt's Joshua Hone breaks away from West's Mason Middleton as the Blues cruise to a huge win. Picture: Tom Huntley

SHARP skills and an even team effort helped Sturt maintain its grip on top spot, as the Blues dished out an 89-point thumping of West Adelaide at Unley Oval on Saturday.

The Double Blues entered the match one win ahead of second-placed Woodville-West Torrens and kept that advantage after a dominant display in muddy conditions.

Sturt hosts Michael Godden’s side on Saturday and can go a long way towards securing top spot if it triumphs.

West stuck with the Double Blues until half time, when it trailed by 22 points, but Sturt’s intensity lifted in the third quarter and it controlled the rest of the game.

Sturt coach Martin Mattner said everyone had played their roles after the main break.

“We weren’t great in the first half ... but we felt like we got back to the way we want to play in the third quarter and played a really good second half, which was pleasing,” Mattner said.

“Now we’ve won enough games to make finals, we’re just looking at the double chance.

“Eagles next week is a tough challenge.”

The rain started tumbling after halftime but only served to reveal the gap in class and workrate between the sides.

Sturt ran harder across the ground, was more composed with the slippery ball and hit targets far more often.

Ben Hansen extended the Double Blues’ lead to 34 points in the third term after booting a long goal from a Chris Schmidt turnover.

From there the home side piled on 11 majors while keeping West goalless.

A fault with the Unley Oval siren meant it murmured every few minutes during the second half, much to the amusement of spectators.

Bloods supporters might have wished it had sounded a lot sooner than it finally did to end their misery.

It was West’s biggest defeat of the season, leaving it with a 2-12 record and average losing margin in 2016 of 58.7 points — nine months after winning the flag.

Coach Mark Mickan said the second half was “ridiculously skewed” because of Sturt’s superior skill level and his team’s lack of intensity.

“At halftime we were in the game ... but then the game got away from us,” Mickan said.

“Sturt raised the tempo to their credit and we couldn’t go with them.”

James Battersby (28 disposals, 11 clearances) worked extremely hard for Sturt, while goalsneaks Hansen (four goals) and Mark Evans (three) booted seven majors between them.

Yet it was one of those all played well team efforts that would please Mattner and Sturt fans.

The Bloods finished with 17 more disposals and 11 more clearances but it mattered little.

STURT 3.0 8.2 13.5 19.7 (121)

WEST ADELAIDE 2.3 4.4 4.5 4.8 (32)

BEST - Sturt: Battersby, Hansen, Penfold, Martin, Jonas, Crocker. West: Schmidt, Stevens, Evans.

GOALS - Sturt: Hansen 4, Beard, Penfold, M. Evans 3, Battersby 2; Lienert, Greenslade, Carey, Gilfoy. West: Middleton 2; Fielke, Haysman.

UMPIRES - Medlin, Crosby, Scott

At Unley Oval