Round 15 v West Adelaide
City Mazda Stadium
West 5.6 (36) Sturt 8.12 (60)
Marty Mattner
Head Coach
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Reserves v West Adelaide
City Mazda Stadium
West 6.4 (40) Sturt 12.9 (81)
Another fantastic first quarter led to another fantastic win for the Sturt Reserves this week. We have made a real habit of starting the games well the past Month and it continued on the weekend with the Sturt boys providing plenty of transitional run and good ball use to take a 5 goal lead into quarter time.
The 2nd quarter provided a different challenge as we were now about to kick into a very strong breeze. We identified that a big 2nd quarter and to try and restrict Westies use of the wind would help set up the game for us and the boys delivered. Applying superb pressure around the footy and some smart ball use meant that we were able to win the 2nd quarter 2 goals to 0. This was extremely pleasing to hold Westies goalless with a 5 goal breeze.
At half time the talk was to maintain the pressure and to continue to play with confidence and speed, we knew Westies would come out and up their intensity so it was important we maintained our effort. Westies kicked 2 goals into the wind early in the quarter as we started a little slowly but to their credit the boys got back to the effort required and kicked 5 goals to 3 in the quarter to head into 3 quarter time 57 points in front.
Westies kicked 3 goals to 0 in the last quarter but the hard work early in the game meant that we ran out 41 point winners to record our 4th win in a row and now only sit percentage out of the top 5. We head into the bye full of confidence and cannot wait to attack our last 3 games and try and make finals.
Best Players:
- Jake Veale – played very well, setting up a lot of play from the wing and finished with 25 possessions.
- Henry Voigt – worked his backside off all day provided an aerial target and also positioning himself really well into the wind. Finishing with 23 possessions, 8 marks and a goal.
- Sean Samblich – again provided a target fwd for us and also doing some grunt work in the midfield. Sean finished with 4 goals and 21 possessions.
- Campbell Wildman – was very calm with the football, setting up play and running really hard on the spread to provide an option. Finishing with 21 possessions and 2 goals.
- Sam Hayden – provided a great target all day, working hard to give us something to kick to. Sam finished with 16 possessions, 7 marks and 2 goals.
Goals: Samblich 4, Hayden, Wildman 2, Haren, Voigt, Houlahan, Kennedy 1
Gianni Petrucci
Reserves Coach
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Under 18 v West Adelaide
City Mazda Stadium
West 7.7 (49) Sturt 11.13 (79)
Round 15 of the U18s Torrens University Cup saw the Sturt U18s travel to City Mazda Stadium to take on West Adelaide as the last match of a triple-header following the League and Reserves. It was a great opportunity for the under age players to get a taste of SANFL League football action and see how the senior players execute the Sturt game plan.
In wet and blustery conditions Sturt started the game well and got out to an early 23-point lead at quarter time. They continued to run hard in the second quarter and were executing the zone well on opposition kick-ins to win the quarter by 8 points and build the half-time lead to 31. Unfortunately Sturt were unable to maintain concentration for 4 quarters and we dropped off in the third quarter with some errors at critical moments, which allowed West to win the quarter by 12 points. The last quarter saw Sturt get back to their earlier run and structure to eventually run out winners by 30 points with a final score of Sturt 11.13 (79) d West 7.7 (49).
Best player for Sturt was match-day captain Ed Allen who continued his excellent form. He had a game high 198 ranking points, which included 38 disposals at 79% efficiency. He was important on the inside with 6 clearances and 7 first possessions as well as 20 contested possessions. Mt Lofty product Tyson Hone was second best after another good game running through the midfield. He had 25 disposals, 4 tackles and 3 inside 50s. Tom Welsby came into the team late and played his role well as a defender. He made good decisions and used the ball well. Welsby had 4 strong spoils, 3 tackles and kicked a goal. Fourth nest for Sturt was tall forward Hugo Munn who presented well all day and finished with 1.2. Ramblers product Jacob Trevorrow was fifth best for the side with a great display as a small forward. He ran hard for 14 disposals and 4 inside 50s. He also had 4 one percenters and 7 score involvements. Sixth best player for Sturt was first gamer Oliver Grivell who recently represented South Australia at the U16 National Championships. He played a defensive role and led the team in one percenters and spoils with 6 and 5 respectively.
Sturt continue to hold on to 3rd position on the Torrens University Cup ladder and look forward to a bye week before the final 3 games of the season. They will resume after the bye against Glenelg in another triple-header at Peter Motley Oval.
Chris Trapp
High Performance Manager