Round 9 Hostplus SANFL League Match Previews

You have to be doing plenty right when you can be missing four gun midfielders – injured Magarey Medallist Will Snelling, skipper James Battersby, Mitch Crowden and Jared Dakin – when you’re facing the second-ranked team in the comp – Central – and you have the game completely under your control from go-to-whoa, leading 7.13 to 1.4 at three-quarter-time en route to a 38-point win.

Despite all the missing weapons, the Blues amassed 56 inside-50s to the Dogs’ 19. One of the features of Sturt’s game this season has been the big-man combination of Amos Doyle – averaging 26 hit-outs a game – and Daniel Fahey-Sparks, who has spent more time up forward and chipped in with 10 goals.

Nick Sadler hasn’t found out what it’s like to lose, having played 13 games – for 13 wins. Mind you, under coach Martin Mattner Sturt’s had a few decent winning runs – 10 in a row in 2016, eight straight in 2017, eight in 2023, 13 straight last year, the first eight this year.

And the Blues have now won nine in a row at Elizabeth. But all runs come to an end and if they aren’t right at the top of their game, long-time local rival Norwood – with Sturt Magarey Medallist and premiership star Jade Sheedy at the helm – will be just the team to knock them off. Sheedy’s men continued to turn their season around in thrashing West by 104 points.

The return from injuries of stars Tom Donnelly and Baynen Lowe, along with ruckman Luke Surman, has given them a much stronger look and they moved the ball with speed to key forwards Jackson Callow (six goals) and Tristan Binder (four) against the Bloods.

The Legs lost to the Blues by 41 points at home in Round 3 but no-one can be in any doubt now they – and Sheedy – are capable of turning the tables at the coach’s old home ground.

These rivals arrive at Woodville to renew pleasantries  in a similar state of mind – determined to make the point last week’s performances were merely an aberration.

Central was playing for top spot and to show it is a fair dinkum flag hope in the match of the day at home against Sturt but was well-and-truly out of the game by three-quarter-time when it had just one goal on the board.

The fourth-ranked Eagles were aiming to claim a share of second with a win against North, which was three wins and 10 per cent behind it in sixth.

Now the Roosters are back within two wins and six per cent of the Eags, who had 10 successive goals kicked against them from late in the second quarter to midway through the last.

“We just didn’t get our hands on the ball around the contest and they were able to transition off that,” Eagles coach Sam Jacobs said.

Central boss Paul Thomas lamented, “this was an opportunity and we didn’t take it”.

And, he would have been on the same wavelength as Jacobs when he added, “but we move on to next week and need to be much better”.

Who will be much better? The Dogs will still be without injured ruck ace Kobe Annand, sorely missed against the Blues after being such a force in the first seven rounds.

The Eagles have been caught short in attack with injuries to Jack Hayes (quad), Connor Ballenden (rib), Patrick Weckert (quad) and Sam Nicholls (knee).

But Daniel Sladojevic stood up with four goals against the Roosters and has 16 in seven games for the season. Still, that’s not where this game’s going to be won. The Eagles will need to be better at getting their hands on the footy in the contest.

But you can bet the Doggies will be throwing themselves in there this week too.

There have been plenty of trophies played for by rival clubs that have quickly come and gone over the years but the Carey-Darley Cup battled out between Glenelg and South continues to be a valued prize after 34 seasons – it was inaugurated three years before these sides christened Noarlunga Oval three decades ago.

It was wonderful to see the two great rucking Peters back at the ground for the latest Cup clash, with Peter Carey happily holding it aloft with Tigers skipper Liam McBean after the game, making it five successive wins for the Bays.

But, sorry Super, Peter Darley still has bragging rights – the Panthers have won the Cup 18 times, to Glenelg’s 15, with one draw.

This week it’s all about the Sandland Cup.

This one has been contested by the Bays and Roosters, strong rivals of the 1970s and ’80s in particular, since 2013 and, as befitting a great rivalry, it’s locked away at six wins apiece right now.

It honours Tigers 1973 premiership star John Sandland, who played for Glenelg from 1970-74, then North in 1975-76.

A much-loved clubman at both clubs, he died in 2012 aged 63.

Glenelg may be sitting comfortably in second spot after crunching South by 68 points, with North in sixth place, but the Tigers know they are in for a torrid afternoon.

The Roosters, under interim coach Sam Mayes, showed they are still in the hunt for a finals spot by beating the fifth-placed Eagles by 34 points, back to their free-running, attacking best in banging on 7.3-to-0.1 in a matchwinning third-quarter blitz, Angus Schumacher and Harrison Wigg combining for 69 disposals.

Mayes was “really proud … everyone deserves this from our footy club – support staff, players, coaches, everyone involved”.

The start. That’s where the Crows will want to be better. It’s been two weeks since their test against top team Sturt and you can expect they will be out to hit hard early at Noarlunga this time.

The Double Blues kicked away with nine of the first 12 goals at Unley and while Adelaide stormed back by kicking six goals in a row to have a shot at a miracle comeback win, coach Matthew Wright lamented, “you spend so much energy getting back to parity, then your tickets are spent”.

A ripper contest ended in a 23-point defeat and the Crows are 5-2 in a tight bunch with Glenelg and Central (6-2) and the Eagles (5-3) below the Blues.

But, while the start wasn’t what Wright had wanted, there were plenty of positives and the boss was rightly proud of the character his group showed in its fightback. Being able to add returning ruck ace Kieran Strachan to play alongside the league’s leading hit-out winner Lachlan McAndrew (37 per game) gives Wright a big man strength other SANFL coaches could only dream of.

And Chris Burgess, after four goals against the Blues, is second on SANFL’s goalkicking list with 21.

Panthers coach Jarrad Wright would be dreaming of four solid quarters after his young side slipped to its sixth loss in a row, outpointed by 68 points by back-to-back premier Glenelg after a second successive disappointing second half.

South kicked just two goals after half-time, the same as the previous week against the Eagles when it showed the undoubted promise in its ranks by leading at the main break.

Jaiden Magor, back at Noarlunga after a stint with Sydney, had 28 touches and 11 marks against the Bays to show the upside he has, while 18-year old Phoenix Hargrave gave a glimpse of a bright future with 18 disposals and seven clearances.

It’s been a tough week in a difficult season at Richmond but let’s hope Westies’ playing group can pull together and show just how much coach Adam Hartlett means to them.

Hartlett is taking an extended period of personal leave, with full support of the club, to prioritise his wellbeing.

The hard work and passion he has put into trying to make the Bloods a force again over two-and-a-half seasons in charge – West rose two rungs up the ladder last year after five successive wooden spoons – has been admirable but their difficult path back to financial strength and a wretched run of injuries to key players have made the task for one of SA footy’s ripper blokes a challenging one.

We wish Harts, and the Bloods – under interim coach Sam Elliott – all the best that they can soon turn the corner and continue to add plenty to our great game.

Hartlett’s brother Hamish is having plenty added to his Port Adelaide side’s ranks with its injury-hit AFL side regaining players to give the 2-5 Magpies a stronger look.

Their midfield will be more lethal with the addition of classy Fos Williams Medallist Mani Liddy from Central District in the AFL’s mid-season rookie draft.

Port also claimed promising Glenelg big man Harrison Ramm and exciting midfielder-forward Ewan Mackinlay from North Adelaide.

The Magpies showed they are on the right track by surviving a late North onslaught for a thrilling two-point win at Alberton. Jed McEntee, a pick-up from Sturt in the 2021 mid-season draft, was the matchwinner with a stunning scoop-up and snap in the 24th minute of the last quarter.

“The boys executed the last two or three minutes as well as we could have possibly asked,” Hartlett said. It was a great win from a depleted line-up.

It won’t be depleted any more, so don’t expect Port’s next seven games to end up 2-5.