Sturt produces impressive performance to conquer South Adelaide in SANFL
Sturt star Aidan Riley was finally celebrating his 100th appearance and the Double Blues put on a show on the road against South Adelaide to celebrate.
STURT coach Nathan Grima challenged his players to bring their best Aidan Riley impersonations to the contest against South Adelaide at Noarlunga Oval on Sunday.
It was the tough midfielder’s 100th league appearance and Grima asked his side to bring a little of what Riley had delivered during his highly-respected career.
There aren’t too many players in the league as brave as Riley, his complete lack of respect for his body in his full bore approach the reason it has taken so long for gun onballer to finally achieve the milestone.
But his teammates heeded Grima’s message with their committed attack and willingness to get their hands dirty to celebrate Riley’s feat in style with an impressive 36-point triumph.
Both teams had had 160 disposals at half-time, yet the Double Blues led the tackle count 44-22 to reflect the attitude requested by Grima.
“We got what we deserved on the back of a fair few weeks of bringing great intent,” Grima said. “It was just our inability to apply scoreboard pressure.
“We kicked five goals straight in the first quarter today and we looked like we are playing better, but it was just our ability to finish our work.
“It was our first full four-quarter effort for the year, and best game, and shows the league we are still not a bad side. We needed it otherwise we were going to be coming from a long way back.”
The Double Blues were up and about from the outset and got in the face of the Panthers with their passion for the contest.
Riley, James Battersby, Sam Colqhoun and Matt Crocker were all busy for the visitors and Jack Stephens and Fraser Evans dominated down back.
As has too often been the case this season, the Panthers were fumbly under pressure, coughing up far too many skills errors and panic moments.
When there was a suspicion of a Panthers rally, the Double Blues responded with plenty of answers as the lead blew out to 40 points in the third term.
Joe Haines has established himself as an elite defender and he was one of the few Panthers who stood firm in the heat. He just did not have enough mates able to match the Double Blues’ superior composure, and hunger.
“We can’t absorb pressure and in the first quarter we refused to kick the ball,” Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said. “We were over handballing and inviting pressure.
“There has been some inconsistencies throughout quarters from week to week, but today we got beat up for four quarters. Sturt were far superior around the contest, their pressure and tackling was really good and their skill execution was far superior going forward.
“If can’t kick, mark or handball you are not going to win too many games.”
SCOREBOARD
STURT 5.0 8.3 12.4 15.7 (97)
SOUTH ADELAIDE 2.2 3.3 7.5 9.8 (62)
BEST - Sturt: Riley, Battersby, Patullo, Crocker, F. Evans, Illman, Penfold. South: Haines, Davis, Karpany, Liddle,
GOALS - Sturt: Patullo 3, Hone, M. Evans, Penfold, Riley 2, Kirkwood, Sutcliffe, Fahey-Sparks, Munn. South: Irra 2, Biemans, Overall, Cross, Karpany, Emery, Schwarz, Whittlesea.
UMPIRES - Morgan, Bowen, Sobieraj.
CROWD - 1675 at Flinders University Stadium, Noarlunga.