Round 9 SANFL U18 Match Wraps

By ZAC MILBANK

West Adelaide produced its best performance of the SANFL U18 season when it eclipsed North Adelaide by 49 points to begin Round 9 at Hisense Stadium.

Despite sitting at the bottom of the table without a win, the Bloods led at every change as they produced an inspired brand of football to breathe life into their season.

Solid midfielder Sam Burbridge was a big presence for West with his 26 disposals and 12 tackles while Noah Baker (20 disposals, three goals), Hamish Dow (20 disposals) and Mitchell Marsh (three goals) were instrumental in the victory.

Still sitting inside the top four, the Roosters had Henry Turner (25 disposals, 13 marks), Tom Dermody and Oliver Francou battling hard in defeat.

Sturt strengthened its place inside the top four with a comfortable 47-point triumph against South Adelaide at Karen Rolton Oval.

Trailing by a goal at the first change, the Double Blues soon swung the momentum in their favour as they registered clear wins in the clearances (44 to 27) and inside 50s (51 to 33).

Sturt’s Kobee Dabinett had the Sherrin on a string as he racked up 32 disposals, 13 clearances, five tackles and a goal as he received welcome support from teammates Sam White (18 disposals, three goals), Jacob Moiler and Sam Waltham (five goals).

The Panthers’ coaching staff rated the efforts of Jesse Nye, Tyson Roberts (19 disposals, one goal) and Brayden Nicholls highly.

Glenelg continued its impressive start to its 2024 campaign with a barnstorming 85-point win against Woodville-West Torrens at Stratarama Stadium.

Now sitting comfortably at the top of the ladder with a healthy percentage of 64.2, the Bays piled on 12.9 to the Eagles’ 3.0 after half-time to bank their eighth victory of the season.

The hosts were led strongly by Cooper Jones, Kallan Bevan (24 dispsoals, seven clearances) and damaging forward Patrick Hutchins, who nailed 6.2 from his 16 disposals and seven marks.

Laying 10 more tackles than the Tigers, the Eagles relied too heavily upon Jack Cook (19 disposals), Jack Hankins, Griffyn Hansen and Jevan Phillipou (25 disposals, two goals).

A miserly first-half shut down propelled Central District to a 56-point win against Norwood at The Parade.

Conceding just one goal before half-time while booting 8.4, the Bulldogs weren’t troubled as they kept pace with ladder-leading Glenelg on eight victories.

Bulldogs James Noack, Dougie Cochrane (25 disposals, 12 marks) and Enrique Mazzeo (17 disposals, five goals) proved too much for the Redlegs to overcome.

Still searching for their second win of the season, the hosts had Penn Stutz-Roberts, Ezra Foster (20 disposals) and Luke Scott (21 disposals) doing their best to stem the tide.