Sturt secures second spot on SANFL ladder after win over West Adelaide at Unley Oval
THE Sturt machine is in need of fine tuning ahead of September after securing the double chance in unspectacular fashion on Saturday at Unley Oval.
THE Sturt machine is in need of fine tuning ahead of September after securing the double chance in unspectacular fashion on Saturday.
A spluttering start by the Double Blues early against West Adelaide at Unley Oval was overturned as they ran over the top of the Bloods in the second half on their way to a 26-point win.
The victory and the Eagles’ loss to South means Sturt took second spot and wrapped up the double chance.
There is still room for improvement for the Double Blues, who will need to be humming if they are to match red-hot minor premiers Norwood in the coming weeks.
They were held goalless by the Bloods in the opening term but managed to kick nine majors to five after the first break to prevail.
Mattner said he believed his side was not far off its best and only the club’s own high standards made it seem like the Double Blues were not fully clicking.
“The footy we’ve played in the past brings expectations about how good we can play, so when you don’t play to that standard everyone thinks you’re a bit off,” Mattner said.
“We’re playing quite good footy at the moment but its just putting consistency of four quarters together at the standard we talk about.
“I thought today we probably played a half or 45-60 minutes of good football.”
Both sides were wasteful but it was the Double Blues who could have really done some damage, recording 57 inside 50s to the visitors’ 32.
Skill errors moving forward were aplenty and a significant concern for West coach Gavin Colville.
“We competed well and our workrate was good, just our skill execution was terrible – that’s it in a nutshell from our end,” Colville said.
Tom Harms was brilliant in defence for the Double Blues, putting his body on the line and marking strongly, all the while driving his side off half-back.
Sturt’s James Battersby worked tirelessly for 32 disposals in his 100th game, while the smooth moving Matt Crocker played a part in several attacks and Josh Dodd finished off his side’s good work with three goals.
Bloods captain Tom Keough was brilliant for much of the day and the West back six, including Jack Agostino and Chris Burgess, was strong under heavy fire.
SCOREBOARD
STURT 0.4 3.9 8.12 9.16 (70)
WEST 1.4 1.5 4.6 6.8 (44)
BEST — Sturt: Harms, Battersby, Crocker, Dodd, Kirkwood, Colquhoun. West: Keough, Hill, Agostino, Schiller, Burgess.
GOALS — Sturt: Dodd 3, Hone 2, Evans, Harms, McAdam, Munn. West: Middleton 3, Bates 2, Karpany.
UMPIRES — Schramm, Morgan, Crosby.