Sturt again the team to beat in race for SANFL crown

STURT has claimed the past two SANFL premierships under the guidance of Marty Mattner and the Double Blues will go into the first round as the team to beat.

Eagles coach Michael Godden. Picture: Matt Loxton/AAP

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EVERYBODY is chasing Sturt again.

Last year, the Double Blues handled the pressure of being the hunted. This season, opponents will up the ante even more as they seek to bring down the Double Blues and prevent them from a premiership hat-trick.

Woodville-West Torrens coach Michael Godden and his Norwood counterpart Jarrod Cotton know only too well the Double Blues stand between them and SANFL glory.

“Every year is a new year obviously, but the last couple of years they have proven they are the best in the competition,” Godden said.

“They just scraped in last year, but they were still the best, so that is what everyone chases.”

When a team wins back-to-back premierships, they deserve to be the team to beat, according to Cotton.

“They had injury concerns early in the year and still came out on top,” he said.

“They probably weren’t favourite to win the grand final and got it done.”

Cotton is confident his side is better prepared to challenge for the flag than last season.

He described the season as a learning curve for himself and the players, while there had been a major overhaul of the way the Redlegs went about it on the field.

“I feel we are better balanced this year and there is more depth than last year,” Cotton said.

Adding intrigue to the 2018 season is the swag of coaching changes with Mark Stone taking on the Glenelg job after Matthew Lokan moved to Port Adelaide, Jarrad Wright being promoted at South Adelaide and Gavin Colville in charge at West Adelaide.

The Panthers and Bloods have regained some big names and the Tigers should have a potent attack with the addition of Jesse White and Luke Reynolds.

What to expect from Adelaide and Port Adelaide is always a mystery and much hinges on the quantity and quality of the top up players. So much depends on injuries to the AFL list.

Norwood coach Jarrod Cotton. Picture: AAP Image/MATT LOXTON

Crows coach Ryan O’Keefe is confident his squad is advanced in preparation compared with this time last year. Last season, they used an average of seven top-up players each game and that is the highest it has been since entering the league in 2014.

Port came within a kick of being the first AFL reserves team to grab the premiership, but will it be as strong this season after losing a raft of class top-up acts?

When asked where Port would get its top up players, general manager of football Chris Davies said everyone wanted to play for Port Adelaide. Not if you are Louis Sharrad, Tom Gray, Luke Reynolds, Nathan Rudloff and Anthony Biemans and playing regular reserves football at Alberton. They are all quality league players who were forced to front regularly in the early game because of the abundance of Power-listed players available for the state league.

Sharrad, Rudloff and Gray have joined the Eagles, Luke Reynolds is at Glenelg and Anthony Biemans is now with South Adelaide.

Central District has lost its best three onballers from last year after Nick Holman, Chris Jenson and Josh Glenn left the club. Filling those holes will a massive test for coach Roy Laird.

And North Adelaide coach Josh Carr will be challenged with the task of climbing his young side up the ladder.