SANFL stars shine on the big stage

By ZAC MILBANK

The standard of the Hostplus SANFL League was illustrated in emphatic fashion across the weekend as a host of South Australian recruits shone in Round 1 of the AFL season.

Woodville-West Torrens premiership forwards Jack Hayes (St Kilda) and Tyson Stengle (Geelong) were scintillating while having a major influence on their teams’ fortunes, further proving the worth of the mature-age production line in SA.

Hayes has only been on the Saints’ senior list for little over a fortnight but that didn’t prevent him from booting three goals while almost single-handedly dragging his team back into the contest during the third term.

While it wasn’t Stengle’s AFL debut, his first outing with new club Geelong would have excited Cats fans after he nailed four goals from his seven scoring shots in a big win against Essendon.

Not to be outdone, young guns Jason Horne-Francis (North Melbourne), Jackson Mead (Port Adelaide) and Kaine Baldwin (Essendon) also showed promising signs for the future.

No.1 draft pick Horne-Francis, from South Adelaide, kicked a nice snap goal from a standing start to tally 13 disposals, three marks and three tackles.

Baldwin, from Glenelg, and Mead, from the Eagles, have both been forced to wait for their AFL debuts due to injury but showed enough in their first outings to suggest they will continue to progress with each AFL game.