SANFL: Sturt beat West Adelaide at Unley by 26 points

THERE were two words in Sturt coach Seamus Maloney’s final sentence in his after-match interview which best reflected the 26-point triumph over West Adelaide at Unley.

THERE were two words in Sturt coach Seamus Maloney’s final sentence in his after-match interview which best reflected the 26-point triumph over West Adelaide at Unley yesterday.

Vital and guts. The season is just four rounds old but during the third quarter against the Bloods the Double Blues were in danger of a 1-3 win-loss start.

Instead, they showed character and fight, withstood the Bloods’ physical challenge and responded with a superb final quarter to now be 2-2.

“It is such an even competition and you have got to tick off your home games and this one was vital,’’ Maloney said.

“So to get that (win) and still not play that well ... to guts out a pretty hard fought win. We will hopefully look back and see it as a really important one for our season.’’

The Bloods should have had a handy lead at three-quarter time. They were well on top of the contest with an aggressive approach and spent much of the third quarter camped in attack. That was best reflected in statistics which showed the Bloods had 13 more visits inside its attacking 50.

Their committed attack on the body and ball was rewarded with a flood of possession — despite Double Blues ruckman Angus Kurtze’s supremacy, and they had conviction and trust in their work.

Bloods captain Chris Schmidt led from the front, Tait Silverlock had an influence and down back Adam Hartlett and Tom Keough did their job well.

But the visitors were punished for poor decision making and inefficiency moving the ball deep into attack.

If it was incredible the Double Blues were within six points when Jack Pendold nailed the final goal for the third quarter, it was even more bewildering they were in front early in the final term when Kory Beard marked and goaled. That is the Beard who patrolled the defensive zone with his usual class and composure for three quarters before being sent forward.

And that is the composure the Bloods lacked in the final quarter when they became undisciplined with attitude and skills.

The Double Blues had soaked up enormous pressure from the Bloods for three quarters and they turned the heat back on the opposition in the final term.

The Bloods had no positive response. “Our discipline dropped away as well as the work rate,’’ Bloods coach Mark Mickan said. “You only need to be one or two per cent off and that is what happened.

“To Sturt’s credit, they kept coming and got the result.

“Against quality opposition we did not reward ourselves (on the scoreboard in the third quarter) and then in the last quarter we dropped right away.

“Sturt picked up a bit and put it on the scoreboard.’’