SANFL 2006 ROUND 13:
SOUTH ADELAIDE v STURT
Down the hard road
By ROB BIDMEADE
AFTER its inept display against South at Noarlunga
Oval last Saturday, Sturt faces a difficult task over the next couple of
seasons to rejoin the upper echelon in the SANFL competition.
The Double Blues were thrashed by 90 points by the Panthers and clearly
the team's coaching staff need to plan for next season
because the hopes for 2006 are dashed.
The Double Blues were unable to recover from their slow start in the
first term with South pouring on five unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes
of the game.
The game was over as a contest after the opening term with Sturt
trailing by a shattering 47 points at the first change. Will Paley, in his fifth league game, was Sturt's only goalscorer in the first quarter.
The Panthers went further ahead in the second quarter with another six
goals to one from Sturt, also scored by Paley.
Sturt had a more productive second half with eight goals but South
still scored 11 goals to win by 90 points.
After a quiet game in the first three quarters because of a lack of
opportunities, Sturt forward Brant Chambers was impressive in the final ternm with four goals. At the other end of the ground, the
Sturt defence had no answer to South's two pronged attack of Damian Cupido and Ben Warren, who scored 16 goals between them.
Sturt had few players who contributed for the entire game but Ben Colreavy, Sean O'Keefe and Luke Jarjoura
battled hard against the odds.
Also Tom Rischbieth, 19, in his second league
game, and Marty Wilson, 20, in his sixth league game, showed promise.
Sturt faces a daunting task to bounce back from last Saturday's big
loss when it meets Port at Adelaide Oval.
Hopefully, the Double Blues will regain some of its experienced
players, who missed the game against South because of injuries.
These players include captain Ben Nelson,
ruckman/forward Simon Feast, goalkicking wizard
Damian Squire and key defender Michael Coad.
Nelson, Feast, Squire and Andrew Beveridge, 31, are part of the ageing
list at Unley which needs to be reinvigorated by talented juniors.
The Double Blues must rely on their promising young players, with the
likes of Rischbieth, Paley,
Power-listed ruckman Fabian DeLuca
and former Magpie Craig Taylor, all only 19.
SCORES:
BEST: South - Cupido,
Thewlis, Archard, McGlone, Neagle, Handby; Sturt - Chambers, O'Keefe, Colreavy, Rischbieth, Sheedy, Wilson.
GOALS: South - Cupido
11, Warren 5, Neagle 3, Iljcesen
2, Handby, Davey, Kruger, Kenna, Twomey; Sturt - Chambers 5, Paley
3, Weatherald 2.