Sturt show premiership qualities in SANFL win against Port Adelaide

NOT even the controversial inclusion of Sam Powell-Pepper into the Port Adelaide line-up just a couple of hours before the opening bounce could halt Sturt at Unley on Wednesday.

Warren Partland

2 min read

April 25, 2018 - 5:27PM

Aiden Riley of Sturt looks to get past Josh Simpson of the Magpies

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NOT even the controversial inclusion of Sam Powell-Pepper into the Port Adelaide line-up just a couple of hours before the opening bounce could halt Sturt.

Rather than unsettle the Double Blues in the grand final rematch, it seemed to inspire the home side as it got to work conquering Port by 25 points at Unley Oval with a performance of character and class.

This was a victory built on a dedicated defence led by Fraser Evans and Jack Stephens and a high quality, hard-working midfield. And there was no deviating from the commitment and fierce desire for the contest.

“Powell-Pepper is a quality player and probably not what I wanted, but it is even better for the win because we know we played against an AFL midfield,” Double Blues coach Marty Mattner said.

Joshua Hone of Sturt marks in front of Josh Simpson of the Magpies.

“We talked about it before the game, the grand final rematch is the two best teams from last year and Port has been good so far this year.

“We want to play against the best, beat the best, and we don’t shy away from that and we set those standards high.”

It was not until midway through the first quarter before the Double Blues found some momentum and two late goals to lively forward Shane McAdam enabled the home side to escape to a 22-point advantage.

The Double Blues’ pressure was outstanding and they were able to prevent explosive run from Port. The visitors were terrible entering their attacking 50 and continually turned the ball over with wayward kicking, often a panic action.

Rebounding with purpose, the Double Blues created plenty of scoring opportunities, only to waste prime chances to hurt Port on the scoreboard.

The inside 50 count was 31-19 in the Double Blues’ favour for the first half and onballers Aidan Riley and Zane Kirkwood had a huge influence.

The tackling and defensive actions of the Double Blues was relentless and they were always able to keep Port at arm’s length.

Jack Trengove was never far from the action for Port and Jarrod Lienert had his moments. Tom Rockliff had 28 possessions, but no impact, and Powell-Pepper, booed each time he went near the ball, was busy.

“I thought our guys fought out the game really well,” Port coach Matthew Lokan said.

“Sturt were really good, their contested stuff, we knew their mids would be a pivotal part of their game and in the first half they were certainly on top. A lot of our entries into the forward 50 were rebounded.”