Round 11 Hostplus SANFL League Match Previews

It’s been a different year at Unley – but what do you expect after a record-breaking 19-1 season and runaway 16th premiership?

But the thing about the Blues that makes fans comfortable with where they are heading, no matter the players they lost to retirement and the AFL after last season and this year’s tough run of injuries, and with three losses by less than a kick, is the leadership at the club.

Jason Kilic has been president since 2008 and CEO Sue Dewing has been at the helm since 2014 and between them they have achieved outstanding success, hauling the club from a perilous financial position to SANFL powerhouse with a stunning new grandstand and club headquarters, picking up three flags along the way.

And then there’s coach Martin Mattner, in his ninth season as coach in two stints, after an interlude as assistant at Adelaide. He’s been the coach of those three premierships.

And over the Blues’ bye week the stability and optimism for the future stepped it up again with Mattner signing on until the end of 2028 after inking a two-year contract extension.

Stability brings success and success brings stability, so it’s all good at Unley where stability was the byword in the Jack Oatey era from 1962-82 – and that was a pretty successful time.

He will be remembered at a reunion in the Oatey Stand as past stars will be celebrated for their 1966 and ’76 premiership wins that were sealed with victories against this week’s opponent Port Adelaide.

The Blues are well and truly in the hunt for the flag this year – if ever a loss showed how much a side is still in the premiership window it was Sturt’s three-point defeat at the hands of top side Norwood, in front of a bumper crowd of 6252.

It was a game of centimetres that was decided by, well, centimetres, with in-form Martin Frederick’s last-gasp shot to win the game touched right on the line. The current players will be determined to end a day of celebrations with, well, celebrations.

But Port Adelaide has been a party pooper pretty often over the years – and Jacob Surjan’s men will be up for it, particularly after being beaten by nine points by West in last week’s Russell Ebert Tribute Cup match.

Port had been three goals up at the main break and led for the full first three quarters but coach Jacob Surjan was disappointed with the finish, West kicking 1.1 to nothing in time-on of the last term.

“I thought we were really strong and dominant in the first half but we didn’t hit the scoreboard as we would have liked,” Surjan said. “We’ve got to show a bit more fight and resilience than we showed in that last quarter.”

The Magpies will be fighting for this one and looking for some sort of celebration for themselves.

While Sturt is still right in the mix for the premiership, the Redlegs are worthy flag favourites.

Seven wins in a row and with key players in sparkling form, the Redlegs showed why they are being talked about as the team to beat when they pipped the Blues in an Unley classic, Aaron Francis showing why he is the recruit of the year with a standout game at either end of the ground.

After the game Magarey Medal threat Nik Rokahr was the leading possession winner in the league – averaging 30, along with six tackles and five clearances – with Francis racking up 24 touches per game and eight marks.

But they have depth and quality all over the field, even with some big guns on the injury list.

The last time these sides met the Legs knocked Adelaide out in last year’s finals, so the Crows who played in that game will reckon they owe them one. And they won’t have been happy with having been pipped by just one point last week against North Adelaide at Prospect.

While Sturt was centimetres short of a win against Norwood, the Crows were just metres away, with the ball being fought for in their goalsquare as the siren sounded.

It was an ending you might have expected in the tough conditions in what Crows coach Matt Wright described as an “arm wrestle”.

While it was “frustrating” overall to finish so near, yet so far, Adelaide is still just a win out of the five with a game in hand and Reilly O’Brien continues to be a tower of strength – he won 49 hit-outs against North, while Blake Drury (four goals) and Finnbar Maley (three) were constant dangers.

The Bulldogs have been battling premier Sturt for the title of this season’s unlucky loser with both having been beaten in three games by a goal or less – Central also having a draw.

The trouble for the Dogs is they only have one win, so they need to start converting late leads into wins to turn their fortunes around.

Of course that can be easier said than done and even though they’re back on the Ponderosa, Glenelg is a big test at the best of times. Against the Eagles the Dogs made a flying start, bagging the first five goals, before conceding the lead late in the third quarter.

But they kept fighting and again were leading going into time-on of the final term.

“That’s another close game we have been involved in which is testing the heart but the guys just didn’t stop trying,” coach Paul Thomas said.

Josh Fahey’s desperation is an inspiration to his team-mates and he and Luca Whitelum continued their strong form.

What Thomas would love to be saying is what rival coach Matthew Clarke said after Glenelg’s most recent clash with Port.

“I thought it was a really consistent, four-quarter performance.”

There were plenty of premiership players at the Bay for Glenelg’s Round 9 game and the club again showed it’s in the hunt this year with a 49-point win against Port.

The members of the 1985-86 men’s and 2021 women’s premiership teams would have been impressed with the way they consolidated a top-three spot with a 7-2 record – which Clarke described as “awesome”.

Corey Lyons just keeps on giving it his all and keeps on winning heaps of the ball and Lachie Hosie keeps on kicking goals – six against Port – and he’s clearing out at the head of the SANFL goalkicking list with 34, 13 ahead of Sturt’s Josh Hone.

And playmaking defender Patrick Parnell continues to show what the Tigers missed out on in the last 10 games last season when he was sidelined with a shoulder injury, standing out with 13 marks and 33 possessions.