1990 Sturt appoint former Geelong player, Kevin Higgins as Coach, but lose a number of senior players yet again, including David Welsby, Scott Russell, Paul McWilliam and Damian Kitschke to the AFL plus the retirements of Ian Willmott and Andrew Downes. Sturt again finish bottom and after just one season, Higgins is sacked, one highlight for the year is the debut of midfielder Andrew Johns who wins the P.T Morton Medal after a standout first season at the club.
1991 Former Central District and North Adelaide player Stephen Trigg is appointed Coach for 1991, but yet again the club lose a number of senior players including Bruce Lennon, Shane Radbone and Kym Russell to the AFL plus Captain Greg Whittlesea who finally decides to the leave the club and join Hawthorn after 243 games, however a number of new players debuted for the club including future Adelaide Crows Coach Brenton Sanderson, Scott Sutherland, Damian Obst, Matthew Dent, Jeremy Gask, Justin Brooks, veteran Peter Bubner from Central District, power forward Jamie Stevenson and future Captain Chris Thredgold. Unfortunately, even though the atmosphere at Unley was changing and a number of quality young players debuted, the club still finished bottom for the third year in a row, John Paynter wins his fourth P.T. Morton Medal and Jamie Stevenson kicks 75 goals.
1992 There was optimism at Unley going into the 1992 season as Stephen Trigg had been retained as Coach and the club welcomed back from the AFL Damian Kitschke, Andrew Underwood, Kym Russell and Jay Viney plus had recruited key position player Jody Arnol from St Kilda and also had Andrew Geddes when not playing for the Adelaide Crows. During the season Guy Bagshaw made his debut for the club, becoming the third generation Bagshaw to do so, after his father Paul and grandfather Hartley. Captain John Paynter plays his 300th SANFL game against Norwood in the pre-season Foundation Cup competition and the Blues go on to make it the Grand Final, losing to Glenelg, but then perplexingly after such a promising start, the Blues crash to finish last yet again, winning only 2 games for the season and 6 games behind ninth placed Central District, a season that promised so much was left in tatters with the Blues claiming their fourth wooden spoon in succession. Captain John Paynter retires after 246 games for the Blues, as well as veteran Peter Reid, ruckman David Reynolds and P.T. Morton Medallist for the season, rover Scott Field, who decided to quit senior football in his prime to concentrate on his career.
1993 The club target an experienced Coach to replace Stephen Trigg, one who has a proven ability to lift a struggling club, former player and Premiership Coach of North Adelaide Michael Nunan, as well as former South Adelaide and WAFL Premiership Coach, Haydn Bunton Junior are the two sought, Michael Nunan is unavailable, so the club works hard to sign Haydn Bunton Junior. Bunton agrees to become Coach and for the first time since 1983, Sturt have an experienced Coach in charge, Jay Viney is appointed Captain after John Paynter’s retirement. The Blues with their fifth Coach in six years at the helm get off to a horror start, losing the first 12 games of the season, but finally the Blues break a 20 game losing sequence dating back to July 4, 1992 with a win over North Adelaide, the Blues win 4 of their last 8 games of 1993 to finish equal bottom with West Adelaide with 4 wins apiece, but unfortunately the Blues had an inferior percentage of 1.4 percent, so claim the wooden spoon for the fifth year in succession. Andrew Johns wins his second P.T. Morton Medal, Jody Arnol kicks 71 goals for the season and on October 25 the club mourns the passing of President Guy Lloyd who died after battling a serious illness, in difficult circumstances Guy worked tirelessly to reunite the club which had become divided after Mervyn Keane’s departure.
1994 Even before the season began, the club was rocked to its foundations with the passing away of Legend Jack Oatey, he died on Saturday, February 26 1994 at 2.20pm in room 8 of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, ironically Saturday at 2.20pm was the starting time for SANFL games and number 8 was the guernsey number that Jack wore. Jack ‘The Master Coach’ Oatey coached the Blues for a record 21 seasons and during this time won seven Premierships. In a boost for the embattled Blues, Bruce Lennon returned to the club from the AFL and during the season future Captain Ben Nelson and big forward Stephen White make their debuts. The season began in promising fashion with victories in the opening two Minor round games and a narrow loss to the previous years premiers, Woodville-West Torrens, but the Blues season is again a failure and the wooden spoon is taken out for a sixth consecutive year. At the end of 1994 the Sturt board embark on an ambitious plan to amalgamate with Norwood with the view to enter a second Adelaide based club in the AFL, the move fails as Port Adelaide is granted the second AFL licence and enters the competition in 1997. Bruce Lennon wins the P.T Morton Medal upon his return to the Blues, but the future didn’t look good for the Blues, as the club was in a crisis, both on and off the field.
1995 Phil Carman is appointed league coach in 1995 and the situation looked grim, players were leaving left, right and centre including Captain Jay Viney, Jody Arnol, Stuart Wigney, Damian Kitschke, Justin Brooks and to make matters worse there were the retirements of Andrew Underwood and ruckman Brett Lienert. Chris Thredgold is named Captain after Jay Viney leaves to join North Adelaide and for only the second time in the clubs history the Blues went through the season without a win, claiming their seventh wooden spoon in succession. During the season 18 players make their debut for the club including future Magarey Medallist Tim Weatherald, Julian Burton and ruckman Simon Feast, who also wins the first of his two P.T. Morton Medals in a standout first year.
1996 At the end of 1995 the Sturt Football Club was in such a precarious financial position, that unless $250,000 was raised the club was doomed. The board opted to seek out a merger with North Adelaide, but supporters opposed this and at a special meeting at Unley Oval, a resurgence group, led by former Sturt Premiership player Phil Sanders was formed with the view to increasing membership and saving the club. The move was successful and the Blues were saved, membership increased to over 2000 and Sturt was second only to Port Adelaide in the amount of members it had. In 1996 the Blues improved with some excellent recruiting, but still failed to get off the bottom, wooden spoon number eight and all in succession. James May wins the P.T. Morton Medal and hope starts to return to the faithful that the club’s days of being the perennial wooden spooners will soon be over.
1997 The hard work of the previous two seasons finally brought results, as the Sturt Football Club lifts itself out of bottom place to make the finals for the first time since 1988. Sturt surprise the competition and finish the Minor round in fourth position and only one Premiership point away from second position, however inexperience cost Sturt in the Elimination Final and they lose to North Adelaide. Brodie Atkinson wins the P.T. Morton Medal and ties with Norwood’s Andrew Jarman to win the 1997 Magarey Medal after a sensational season. Negotiations with the Unley City Council regarding a return to Unley Oval to play league football are successful, as the council agrees to Sturt playing 4 games there from 1998 and Coach Phil Carman is reappointed for two more seasons.
1998 Sturt’s preparations for the 1998 season begin well as no league players have left the club and selective recruiting increases the club’s depth. The Double Blues resurgence continues as Sturt shock the competition by finishing the Minor round on top of the ladder, winning 16 of their 20 games, it is the club’s first Minor Premiership since 1978. The first league game at Unley since 1985 is played before a sell out crowd on Easter Saturday and the Blues end up winning all four of their Unley home games. Sturt march into their first Grand Final since 1983 with an emphatic victory over West Adelaide in the Second-Semi Final, however the fairytale was not to be, Sturt play a strengthened Port Adelaide, who had the luxury of including many of their AFL listed players come finals time and lose by just 9 points. Simon Feast wins his second P.T. Morton Medal and Julian Burton tops the goal kicking list wth 64.
1999 The club starts the season without some of its champions, Simon Feast, Brodie Atkinson, Adam Lange and Barnaby French are lost to AFL clubs in the AFL draft, but the Blues recruit well to cover these losses picking up Damian Squire, Dean Woosnam and Sean Tasker from other SANFL clubs. Aaron Bishop, Stuart Graham, Adam Klun, Alistair McEwin, Stephen Prescott and Daniel Wicks all make their debuts. The Sturt Football Club gets a bigger foothold back at Unley with 6 home games being played there, but the Club struggles to find form and consistency throughout the season and finishes a disappointing fifth after losing the Elimination Final to Norwood. The brilliant Damian Squire wins his first Magarey Medal and his first P.T. Morton Medal in his first season at Sturt, while veteran John Richter plays his 258th and final game. Julian Burton, with 62 goals wins the Rick Davies Medal for top goal kicker for the second successive year and also passes the 200 goal mark for the club, while big Stephen White edges past 100.