Round 13 Hostplus SANFL League Match Previews

The Bloods are on the boil. And how good’s that?

After years in the wilderness West Adelaide is on the rise under new coach Nathan Bassett, settling into fifth spot with its sights on finals for the first time in 11 years.

Now his men have reigning premier Sturt in their sights for the second time this season.

Having already broken a drought that extended back to their 2015 premiership season by beating the Blues for the first time in 20 clashes, by four points at Richmond in Round 5, they can’t see any reason why they can’t repeat the dose at Unley.

Their midfield is setting the tone in smashing style, playing strong contested footy, the Bloods ranked second to Glenelg for net clearances and fourth in the league for tackles.

Inspirational Kobe Ryan is averaging seven clearances and six tackles on his own and Ben Ridgway, Joel Parker, Cade Kennedy and the returning Sam Frost all have been making an impact.

“I think our midfield can be one of the best in the competition,” Bassett said. “I like the mix we have – they have good energy.”

West has been full of energy in winning its past three games – against North, Port and then it was home, sweet home last week as it swept aside the Eagles by 42 points.

Bassett described it as “probably the best footy we have played this year … we won contests in front of the ball and I thought we defended really well … to solidify ourselves in the five and keep playing good footy, it’s great for our club.”

And it’s great for the SANFL comp as well. “We have spoken about finals – it is realistic for us in terms of where the competition is at,” Bassett said.

After the challenge of tackling reigning premier Sturt at Unley the Bloods will finish the minor round with six successive home games – they are unbeaten there this season – as they keep showing they are up for the challenge.

After their stunning grand final win against the Eagles under Mark Mickan in 2015 they have finished last, ninth, seventh, last, last, last, last, last, eighth and last over the past 10 seasons.

They couldn’t take a trick as they battled financial concerns while winning 36 and losing 138 games but their 11 premiership points this season are already the most in a year since 2018, when they had an 8-10 record. There seems little doubt West will better that mark but right now it’s all about an Unley test.

Anyone who thought Sturt’s premiership defence was coming to a shuddering halt as it trailed Glenelg 3.4 to 10.8 at three-quarter-time last week needed to catch up with the final quarter.

The Blues piled on 7.2 to 1.3 and were attacking hard as the siren sounded to show they are still around the mark and with Will Snelling, Casey Voss and Zac Backer still to come back. They’ve lost five of their 11 games – but by two, 17, four, three and 11 points, with the best seemingly still to come.

The sides hit hardest by the AFL’s mid-season draft have been battling for consistency, the Eagles winning half of their four games since losing Lukas Cooke, Max Beattie and Liam Puncher and the Roosters having a 1-3 record after Oli Francou and Alex Van Wyk were picked up and they’re both coming off losses.

The Eagles were beaten by 42 points by West after beating the Bloods by 41 in Round 4, while costly turnovers hurt North in a 21-point loss against Central, which the Roosters had beaten in Round 1.

When these sides met in Round 5, the Eagles won 69 points but plenty has changed since.

We reckon it will be a lot closer this time.

Last year it was all about who can possibly stop the Double Blues? This year it’s shaping as who can put the clamps on the Redlegs?

No-one did stop Sturt last year, not even Glenelg, which was gunning for a premiership three-peat when it tackled the Blues in the grand final.

After what departing South coach Jarrad Wright had to say last week when his side was dismantled by Norwood by 76 points, who’s to say if the Legs can be stopped either?

Wait a minute, what about the Bays, who tackle Norwood this week at The Parade?

Glenelg is 9-2, just like the Legs and the Tigers beat Norwood by eight points in Round 3 at the Bay.

Since then, there’s the little matter of the Legs winning nine in a row. In the past two games they have never been headed and won every quarter against the Crows and Panthers and Wright declared, “we played the best team in the competition by a mile … they are way above the rest”.

But they will be coming off a six-day break against Glenelg, which beat Sturt for the second time this year.

It may have been tight in the end – by 11 points – but to have led by 46 points at the final change the Tigers clearly had done plenty right in the first three quarters.

“It got a little tighter than we would have liked but I always felt the buffer we created was going to be enough,” coach Matthew Clarke said.

“It was a really important and significant win.”

The Bays this year have beaten the Blues by 17 and 11 points, while Norwood lost to Sturt by five points before beating them by three, another pointer to this match-up being a ripper.

There’s still plenty to play out in this season.

The Panthers have plenty on the line this week as they look to give departing coach Jarrad Wright the winning farewell he deserves after his record-breaking reign at Noarlunga.

Wright, who this week announced the clash against Port Adelaide would be his last, would love to finish on a high at Alberton, traditionally one of the hardest away venues.

The sort of magic Jack Delean produced last week against Norwood would be ideal.

The Panthers copped a drubbing at the hands of the Redlegs but Delean, who is fifth on the SANFL goalkicking list, snared a strong mark on the wing and streamed down the ground, having four bounces before nailing his 20th for the season from just inside 50.

But Port is also determined to get back on the winners’ list.

The Magpies won the second half of the SANFL Showdown but only after being 60 points down at the main break.

They had positive signs with mid-season draftee Alex Van Wyk shading Reilly O’Brien in ruck and Jake Tarca bagging four goals.

There’s been some pleasure but plenty of pain as Doggies fans have become all too familiar with the fine line between winning and losing – with a draw that felt a bit like a loss thrown in as well.

There were jangling nerves again last week against North when Central’s 40-point lead from late in the third quarter was slashed to 14 points with 15 minutes to play.

But the Dogs kicked two of the last three goals and coach Paul Thomas noted, “winning and the vibe that’s around a win helps”.

It sure does. And Thomas knew it was fair reward, saying, “the guys have been awesome in their attitude at training and dealing with the losses” – five of which had been by nine points or less.

When Central faced Adelaide in Round 3, that was the nine-point defeat.

It came when the Crows kicked four of the five final-quarter goals, so the Dogs will feel if they can finish off like they did last week against North, they’ll be a real chance.

But Adelaide was back to its best in thumping Port by 52 points in the SANFL Showdown.

The Crows notched their highest SANFL derby score, with 19.7, with Chayce Jones, Sid Draper and Billy Dowling leading a midfield mauling of the Magpies.

This game looks likely to go down to the wire, just as in Round 3. Just who will win it this time is another question.