SANFL 2006 ROUND 18: STURT v CENTRAL DISTRICT

It's carnage central - Ruthless 104-point belting of Sturt steadies Bulldogs premiership chances

By STEVE BARRETT

IS IT too early to declare the Bulldogs are back in business?

Perhaps. But almost all aspects of Central District's 104-point spanking of an undisciplined Sturt at Adelaide Oval on Saturday bore a compelling resemblance to the Dogs at their premiership-winning best.

Despite consistency over four quarters having eluded Central for much of this season, the Bulldogs are a game clear in third spot on the ladder.

And when Central is playing at its best like it did against the Double Blues, few if any can be considered a greater flag contender.

Sturt more than held its own against the Bulldogs in an evenly contested and free-flowing opening term. The lead changed hands four times during the quarter, which ended with Central ahead by eight points.

From that point on, the Blues failed to offer even a cursory yelp, as Central seized complete control all over the park.

The Bulldogs pillaged Sturt with back-to-back nine-goal quarters to blow the difference out to 95 points at three-quarter-time.

The Double Blues showed more grunt and run in the final term, but Central still won the term 4.5 to 3.2, all of the Doggies' fourth quarter goals scored by Daniel Schell, who booted 11 for the match.

Sometimes maligned for his conversion rate, Schell demonstrated that when he's got his kicking boot on, he is without peer as a key forward in the SANFL.

Schell's job was made easier by the terrific supply he received from the likes of James and Chris Gowans, Elijah Ware, Richie Cochrane and Chad O'Sullivan, while the support inside 50 of talls Justin Westhoff and Jason MacKenzie was invaluable.

“We've been hard on ourselves the last few weeks,” Central coach Roy Laird said.

“We've been playing periods of good footy but we haven't been able to sustain it, and that was our focus for the week.

“Overall I thought we worked really hard and used the footy pretty well (on Saturday).

“We haven't scored heavily for a long while, so that was a real plus.

“We proved to ourselves that we can attack well and score heavily.”

The victory margin was easily Central's biggest of 2006, surpassing the club's three 68-point wins over West Adelaide, North Adelaide and Glenelg earlier in the year.

In fact, the 104-point winning margin was the Bulldogs' biggest since thumping Sturt by 119 points at Unley in Round 19 last year.

Central's final tally on the weekend was the club's highest total since notching 32.5 (197) against North at Prospect in round one, 2003, and just two points shy of the Dogs' highest score against Sturt set in 1995.

SCORES: Sturt 5.1 7.1 9.4 12.6 (78) defeated Central District 6.3 15.6 24.9 28.14 (182).

BEST: Sturt - B. Colreavy, J. Sheedy, G. Bentley, D. May, B. Nelson, B. Chambers; Central District - D. Schell, C. Gowans, J. Mackenzie, R. Cochrane, J. Westhoff, M. Slade.

GOALS: Sturt - B. Chambers 5, S. Feast 2, C. Taylor, D. Wicks, L. Button, J. Bowen, T. Hurley; Central - D. Schell 11, C. Gowans 5, J. Westhoff 3, M. Slade 2, E. Ware 2, A. Switala, J. Gowans, J. Mackenzie, A. Hayes, C. O'Sullivan.