My Two Cents: Super Sturt one win away from SANFL perfect season | Andrew Capel
Glenelg might be chasing a premiership hat-trick but it’s Sturt which is on the brink of claiming a record that could stand for another 100 years, writes Andrew Capel.
Four years after Glenelg fell at the final hurdle, rampaging Sturt is one win away from completing the greatest home-and-away season in SANFL history.
If the Double Blues beat Adelaide at home at Unley Oval on Saturday, they will become the first team since Port Adelaide’s famous ‘Invincibles’ side in 1914 to go through a minor round unbeaten.
Sturt’s achievement would be statistically greater as it shoots for a perfect 18 consecutive victories.
The Magpies’ unbeaten minor round featured only 12 games in a seven-team competition before they won both finals and the Champions of Australia match against Carlton.
Super Sturt has already taken one record off Port this year, winning 30 consecutive home-and-away matches over the past two seasons – the most in the competition’s 148 years.
This eclipsed Port’s longstanding mark of 24 from 1913-15.
Now the Double Blues, under the astute leadership of master coach Martin Mattner, are eyeing the first perfect minor round in 111 years.
Only the third-placed Crows stand in their way.
“Our focus all season has been on the process and trying to improve each week and that won’t change this week because there’s still a couple of little areas we want to get better at,’’ Mattner said of the chance to create more history by sealing an unblemished minor round campaign.
“As a group, we don’t speak about these records before we achieve them, but when we got the record for most minor round wins in a row we mentioned after the game what a good achievement it was and quietly celebrated it.
“But as we’ve said all along this season, there’s a bigger picture at stake in terms of winning finals.’’
Glenelg, which is chasing a hat-trick of SANFL premierships this year, was in a similar, 17-0 position four years ago before losing its last minor round game against Port at Alberton by six goals and then being thumped by Woodville-West Torrens in the grand final.
Other teams to lose only one home-and-away match in the past 75 years include Sturt’s star-studded 1978 side, which finished 21-1 before losing a famous grand final to Norwood by one point, and the Tigers’ powerful 1973 unit, which finished 20-1 before beating North Adelaide in an epic grand final remembered for Graham Cornes’ late heroics.
The great Port sides of the 1950s went 17-1 during the minor round three times before winning the flag – in 1951, 1956 and 1959.
But Sturt is on the verge of achieving something the league has never seen before.
While the finals-bound Crows, who are chasing their own slice of history as they zero in on their first SANFL flag, will be out to spoil the party, Mattner said the table-topping Double Blues could this week field one of their strongest sides of the season as they prepare for the finals and a first round bye.
“It’s really important for us to have a good hitout this week, being our last game before finals,’’ Mattner said.
Sturt’s extraordinary season has been inspired by a horror straight-sets finals exit last year.
After missing out on the minor premiership to Norwood only by percentage, the Double Blues were upset by Central District in the qualifying final after leading by five goals and Glenelg in the first semi-final.
The previous year they lost the grand final to the Tigers.
Last year’s shock, heartbreaking finals exit prompted the previously defensive-minded Mattner to change the Blues’ game plan in a bid to score more.
Boosted by key recruits Tom Emmett and Martin Frederick, Sturt has done just that.
It has increased its scoring from an average of 74 points a game last season to a league-leading 108 this year, while remaining strong defensively, conceding a league-low average of 58 points.
“Our scoring has been the real positive of our season because it was the main focus of our pre-season and something we identified that we needed to improve,’’ Mattner said.
“It’s great that we’ve been able to implement that – and probably a lot quicker than we thought.
“It’s not only happened relatively quickly but also at a higher level than we had hoped, which has been very pleasing.’’
Jarrad Wright, coach of rival club South Adelaide, lauded what Sturt had been able to achieve this season.
He said what had impressed him most was the team’s ruthlessness to continue to put rivals to the “sword’’ after it virtually had the minor premiership sewn up a month ago.
The Double Blues have won their past seven games by an average of 78 points and, incredibly, kicked the first 18 goals against West Adelaide at Richmond Oval last Saturday.
Of Glenelg’s 17 wins on the trot in 2021, eight were by under 20 points.
“Their ability to remain hungry has been amazing,’’ Wright said of Sturt, whose star midfielder Tom Lewis is the Magarey Medal favourite.
“They have put teams to the sword week in, week out without taking their foot off the gas, which has been very impressive.
“Can anyone beat them in the finals, it will be tough because they have great depth – probably five or six players in their reserves who would be walk-up starts in most other league teams – and more speed on their game this year, which has boosted their scoring capacity.’’
Mattner said Sturt’s depth and success had allowed it to rotate players throughout the season and rest those with sore spots.
He said “tough’’ competition for spots in the side had played a key part in the Blues’ ruthlessness.
Sturt’s 17 straight victories is the equal-second longest winning streak in club history, tying its 1978 side.
The club record is 20 consecutive wins from Round 20, 1969, to Round 17, 1970, which could be equalled in this year’s grand final.
NUMBERS GAME
54
Harry Sheezel disposals for North Melbourne against Richmond – the equal-most in VFL-AFL history, tying Tom Mitchell’s effort for Hawthorn against Collingwood in 2018.
34
Collingwood’s inside 50 advantage in its three-point loss to Adelaide.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“The lid’s not on, is it? The lid’s not on in South Australia, the lid’s on inside the four walls of our footy club because we know we have to stay in that space.’’ – Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks after the three-point win against Collingwood.
“I’m glad it’s here. To be honest, I’m sick of the wait. It’s been a bit of a battle to get to the end and we’ve got here now.” – Ken Hinkley ahead of his last game as Port Adelaide coach.
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