Sturt demolishes North Adelaide by 61 points at Prospect

STURT looked like a top-three contender in its 61-point demolition job on North Adelaide at Prospect on Saturday.

FEW pundits would have considered Sturt a finals contender going into the season.

But the Double Blues showed all the hallmarks of a genuine top-three threat with an impressive 61-point victory over North Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Saturday.

Sturt bounced back from its only loss of the season — a six-point defeat to the Eagles — to blitz an inexperienced Roosters outfit with a slick attacking game and stingy defence.

It was tight early and North led by eight points three minutes into the second term.

The Double Blues then blew open the game with an eight-goal run while kicking with the breeze to finish the quarter Sturt’s ball use was exemplary and its defensive pressure regularly forced errors from the Roosters.

The result pointed to a growing maturity at Unley, where there seems to be a nice balance between youth and experience now that players in their early 20s like Christian Calabrese, John Greenslade, Ben Hansen and Jack Stephens have blossomed into consistent league footballers.

“It was four quarters of really good stuff — lots of pressure, a lot of aggression,” Sturt coach Seamus Maloney said.

“We could tell 30 seconds into the game that we were on with those defensive things and we kept the foot down all day.

“It’s been a bit of a job for the last couple of years to identify the guys that can take the footy club forward ... and those guys (in their early 20s) have started the year really strongly.”

The Roosters looked nothing like the side that defeated Norwood at Adelaide Oval on Anzac Day, in part because they made five forced changes going into the game.

North — which fielded five teenagers including debutant Stephen Tahana — looked flat from the outset and played the windy conditions poorly.

Too often the Roosters overused the handball and made bad decisions or turnovers under pressure coming out of the back half.

“In the first quarter you could tell we were off,” Roosters coach Ken McGregor said.

“We had the wind and probably didn’t go long enough and probably messed around with it a bit too much.

“Today was definitely a step backwards.”

North kicked three goals to one in the third term, which meant the Double Blues went into three-quarter time with a 33-point lead.

When Hansen booted his second of three goals five minutes into the final term, the game was all but over.

From there it got a little ugly.

Some of North’s youngsters fell away and Sturt made the most of the breeze to boot four more goals.

STURT 2.1 10.5 11.9 16.13 (109)

NORTH ADELAIDE 2.3 3.4 6.6 7.6 (48)

BEST - Sturt: Bartlett, Greenslade, Kirkwood, Watt, Calabrese, Beard, Coad.

North: Shannon, Thiele, Hill, Tahana.

GOALS - Sturt: Coad, Hansen, Crocker 3, Greenslade, Duldig 2, Calabrese, Gore, Kane.

North: Burton, Ryswyk, Shannon, Amato, Barns, Miles, Teasdale.

INJURIES: Sturt - Beard (ankle); North - Boles (illness, replaced in selected side by Teasdale) UMPIRES - Bowen, Medlin, Burke.

CROWD - 2147 at Prospect Oval