Spirited Sturt way too good for injury-ravaged North Adelaide

THERE is plenty to like about this Sturt mob. Passion for the contest and enthusiasm for work are rife and there is tremendous spirit at the club.

THERE is plenty to like about this Sturt mob. Passion for the contest and enthusiasm for work are rife and there is tremendous spirit at the club.

This was no more evident than Saturday's 62-point victory over North Adelaide at Unley, giving the Blues their third win for the season.

The Roosters have been ravaged by injury problems. And they were significantly hamstrung by the loss of ruckman James Craig early in the second quarter — a major issue when confronting in-form Angus Kurtze.

But that should not distract from the superb display from the Double Blues.

Down back the form of Fraser Evans and Jack Stephens has freed up classy defender Kory Beard, Kurtze is dominating the ruck and feeding the likes of Zane Kirkwood, damaging with each touch.

In attack it is the small forwards Josh Hone and Jack Penfold causing headaches.

When Michael Coad went forward he was dangerous, although he spent much of the first quarter roaming between half forward and half back.

"We have shown our best footy is pretty good,'' Double Blues coach Seamus Maloney said. "We play a pretty bold, aggressive style of footy.

"I thought the game was on our terms for a fair part of the day.''

The Double Blues' decision-making going inside the attacking 50 and skills were sloppy early while the Roosters were able to get some of the free-flowing movement they seek, allowing them to test the home side.

There were three goals kicked in the first quarter. There were five in the first five minutes of the second as the two sides went on the attack and traded blows as the game opened up.

Alex Spina nailed a goal for the Roosters just a minute into the second half, cutting the deficit to only 12 points and putting the Double Blues on notice.

And the home side responded as a quality outfit should, nailing seven of the next eight goals to all but put the game to bed.

They were able to shut down the potent Roosters rebound and punish opponent's mistakes.

"When we stuck to our game plan and play some fast, attacking footy we looked like we were capable of scoring and scoring a lot,'' Roosters coach Ken McGregor said. "But we were bits and pieces and the other bits when we don't look like that we look terrible.

"A 10-goal loss means there are issues all across the board — we leaked easy goals.''