Round 14 Hostplus SANFL Snapshot – Saturday

Sturt closed the gap on the top three with a clinical 26-point win against Woodville-West Torrens at Maughan Thiem Kia Oval.

The fourth-placed Double Blues were never headed and largely untroubled as they moved to within one win of the third-ranked Eagles, who minimised some of the percentage damage in the second half after starting poorly.

Martin Frederick set the tone for Sturt with 28 disposals – 15 of them coming in a dynamic opening quarter – nine inside-50s and a superb goal.

Jared Dakin chalked up 23 touches, while skipper Tom Lewis was industrious in the boggy conditions, pairing 22 possessions with 15 tackles.

Oliver Grivell was the most dangerous forward on the park, booting 3.2 from his 17 disposals, while also grabbing a game-high eight marks.

Will Coomblas, Rory Illman (playing his 100th league game) and Zac Becker (playing his 50th) piloted a resolute backline.

Ted Clohesy amassed 35 touches, 10 tackles, seven clearances and six inside-50s for the Eagles, while Kobe Mutch was outstanding in his first league appearance of the year, kicking three majors.

Riley Knight had 24 disposals and 14 tackles, while Blake Hansen (23 touches), Blake Hansen (23), Jack Cook (21), Will Pearce (20) and James Rowe (20, one goal) all had their moments.

Mutch’s excellent snap at the eight-minute mark of the first half was the Eagles’ only moment of joy in the first half, which was played well and truly on the Blues’ terms.

Grivell slotted successive goals to open up a 16-point buffer for Sturt at quarter-time.

Frederick threaded a beauty on the run late in the second to push the Double Blues’ advantage to 38 points – 7.3 to 1.1 – at half-time.

Nick Hayes and Mutch ended the Eagles drought with back-to-back majors in the third stanza to trim the deficit to 25 points.

Early in the fourth term, Lachlan Burrows soccered through a superb volley goal that any World Cup striker would proudly call their own, before Mutch ensured some late respectability for the Eagles when he bombed through his third major from long range.

Central District produced the most commanding performance of its Hostplus SANFL League campaign, trouncing South Adelaide by 66 points at Barossa Park.

The Bulldogs dictated from the outset in the twilight encounter at Lyndoch and should have prevailed by an even greater margin if it hadn’t been for some errant finishing in front of goals.

The clash marked a forgettable debut for Panthers caretaker coach Jack Maher, who replaced Jarrad Wright at the helm during the week.

Anzac Lochowiak, Josh Fahey and Jack Tomkinson shared the spoils in attack, booting three majors each, and Beau Thomas added two of his own in the fourth quarter.

Captain Kyle Presbury racked up game-highs of 31 disposals and 11 clearances, while Luca Whitelum (22 touches) and Kai Pudney (21) provided sound support.

Harley Sparks (27 disposals), Riley Baldi (25), Angus Bradley (25), Oliver Davis (24) and Arlo Draper (24) found plenty of the ball for the Panthers, who found the going difficult forward of centre.

Central dominated the inside-50 count 66-34 while also smashing South 67-26 in hit-outs despite No.1 ruck Kobe Annand being sidelined with an ankle injury.

Jayden Matz (35 hit-outs) was summoned to replace Annand and filled the breach admirably, spelled successfully in ruck by Thomas (17) and Tomkinson (15).

Jack Delean was South’s lone goalscorer, kicking two in the space of six minutes in the third term.

After a dour start to proceedings, Fahey sparked the Dogs with a superb snap midway through the opening stanza, at the end of which Central held sway by 12 points.

The Panthers, held to 0.1 in each of the first two quarters, fell even further behind, by 35 points at half-time.

Delean briefly sparked South in the third period but the one-way nature largely continued through to the finish line.

Norwood defied a short-handed bench and wet, wintry conditions to claw out a gutsy 17-point victory over gallant West Adelaide at Richmond Oval.

The Redlegs finished strongly after trailing at every break and being down one on the bench after backman Alec Wright went off with a hamstring injury early in the second quarter.

Finn Heard (23 disposals, 36 hit-outs, 10 clearances, eight inside-50s) and Nik Rokahr (31 disposals, eight clearances) were magnificent in the heavy conditions, with a pre-game deluge and an even heavier half-time downpour causing havoc.

Cooper Murley (33 touches, seven rebound-50s) was prolific behind the ball, while Ben Simpson held Bloods gun Kobe Ryan to just 11 possessions with a masterful tagging performance, a week after completing a similar shutdown job on Glenelg star Corey Lyons.

Kade Dittmar (21 disposals), Connor Ling (21), Matthew Ling (20) and Charlie Molan (20) found plenty of the pill, while Jayden Gale, Max Hodges and Tristan Binder nailed two goals each.

With Ryan well held, Tom Morrish (20 disposals, eight rebound-50s, one goal) and captain Sam Frost (20 disposals) were West’s primary ball winners.

The Bloods were left to lament a 1.6 return in the opening term, but they still led at each change – by five points at quarter-time, nine at half-time and two at three-quarter-time.

Mitch Obst’s dribbler put West up by eight points early in the fourth before Norwood powered to the line, aided by a suddenly stiff breeze which had swirled all day before favouring the northern end that the Legs were coming home with.

Connor Ling slipped on his backside as he slotted a set shot at the 13-minute mark to give Norwood the lead for good, before Oliver Sanders and Jackson Callow added to the margin late.