Round 14: West v Sturt - Saturday 19 July @ City Mazda Stadium

West v Sturt

Saturday 19 July
City Mazda Stadium

Reserves: 11:25am
League: 2:10pm

Last Week
West 8.8.56 lost to Centrals 13.11.89 @ Playford Alive Oval
Sturt 11.12.78 d Glenelg 10.4.64 @ Envestra Park

Last Time They Met
Sturt 20.12.132 d West 8.5.53 @ Envestra Park

Ladder Position
West 8th 5-8 46.64%
Sturt 2nd 9-4 56.18%

West are coming off a disappointing loss to Centrals while Sturt eventually got the job done against Glenelg. Will we expect Sturt to have another easy win over West, or will West respond at home with a win?

Will be another close game for Sturt.

Sturt will need 4 quarters of sustained effort. Not the on/off approach we saw at Unley last Saturday. As I said elsewhere, there isn't much difference in ability between any of the teams in this competition. If you switch off, even for parts of games, you risk being run over. We can't depend on Tambling, Kirkwood and Beard to keep pulling us out of trouble at the death.

hey cc, how about a bit of credit to my mob rather than the off/on switch quip, we showed some guts to fight back (rather than meekly roll over like they did against West a few weeks ago) & indeed we gave you a big fright....as for the game i'll tip West because of the weather forecast

bayman wrote:hey cc, how about a bit of credit to my mob rather than the off/on switch quip, we showed some guts to fight back (rather than meekly roll over like they did against West a few weeks ago) & indeed we gave you a big fright....as for the game i'll tip West because of the weather forecast

Whoa, no offence meant. I certainly give credit to Glenelg. We were seriously worried at 3/4 time. I think we all tend to see things the way the coaches do. I'm sure Stevens would have seen it as your guys not being switched on at the start, and asking some hard questions of the players at the quarter and half time breaks. As Moloney did of our guys at 3/4 time. So much of the game these days seems to focus on sustaining the work rate, endeavour and so on.

With the side Sturt have selected, I presume Kurtze will ruck all day?

redandblack wrote:With the side Sturt have selected, I presume Kurtze will ruck all day?

I assume that Kurtze and Nelson will go head to head for most of the game. But when Webb goes into the ruck, Beard will probably go with him, that seems logical. The decision to drop Evans wasn't much of a surprise. He hasn't come to grips with the job. Last week he only had about half a dozen disposals and didn't lay a glove on the ball in the ruck at all. Time for plan 'B' whatever it is.  

West by less than a goal in a low scoring game.

Sturt to win, the Bloods too inconsistent

Apparently the bloods grow another leg at home!!!!!

So I expect the Blues will only win by 3 goals.

From a Sturt point of view, we'll know how realistic our finals ambitions are, by 5 O'clock tomorrow. These are the sort of hard away games in mid winter, at a ground where we have a poor record, that we need to win, if we rate ourselves a chance in September.

We're still at least one win short of securing a finals spot, need to get the chocolates this afternoon for it to be real

sapaul wrote:West by less than a goal in a low scoring game.

Guess that's pretty spot on.

AFL scouts were well in attendance at City Mazda Stadium. They'd arrived early, with one aim and that was to watch potential high draft pick Sam Durdin. By the end of the Reserves game, they'd added Jess Watchman, a 200cm key forward to their list, after his eye-catching 4 goal performance.

As a West supporter, the main game was looked forward to with some apprehension. Memories of the first half at Unley earlier in the year hadn't yet been eradicated from the memory bank and the previous week's performance at Elizabeth didn't help any semblance of confidence,

Our form at home had been excellent, though and the true believers hung on to that

The start was ominous. A centre bounce and a whistle down field saw a free to Sturt against Adam Hartlett and a resultant goal. Hartlett pleaeded his innocence, but the umpires made a quick mental check of the probabilities and decided the circumstantial evidence and Adam's past record dudn't support his protestations.

That goal was to be Sturt's only major until some time in the second quarter, as West dominated possession and showed some good ball movement and skills to kick 4 goals and lead comfortably at quarter-time.

The next two quarters saw Sturt gradually peg back West's lead, reducing it to a point at the last break and seemingly having all the momentum. Chris Schmidt had been tagged all day and was restricted to 30 touches. He may have had another effective touch when his opponent went to the ground under some difficulty at one stage.

The last quarter was tight. West attacked early, but couldn't add more than a goal to their lead. It was then Sturt's turn, but they also missed several not so difficult opportunities. The difference turned out to be Jonno Beech, surely one of the best two or three players in the competition. He'd been effective all day, but added his 4th goal to put West back in front after Sturt hit the front.

The last five minutes was desperate defence, with West holding out at the siren with Sturt deep in attack.

Beech was best on ground, kicking 4.4 and getting plenty of the ball, but big Daniel Webb rucked well and was outstanding in the air, with 3 goals. Logan Hill tagged Kirkwood, who still got a fair bit if it but wasn't overly dangerous. Chris Schmidt was prolific, while Aaron Anderson was excellent in his first game for the year.

So the season continues for the Bloods, with one finals spot up for grabs and five sides aiming for it.

Glenelg next, with Ezard, MacReadie, Hayes, Still and Ryan Anderson likely to be available.

That's next game. Right now, Bloods' supporters are just happy with this game.

Good result today. Nice to see Aaron Anders on playing League again. Also Silverlock took great mark

Well done to West. They had to win that game, or their season was as good as finished, and they toughed it out. We had our chances but couldn't take them. Our poor return from inside 50s has become a concern over the past few weeks. Likewise having periods when our intensity is not up to scratch, as was the case in the first quarter. I said before the game, that this week would tell us something about where we're at. I think it showed that we've got work to do, before we can be a threat in September.

I'm reliably informed that an incident occurred during this game, in which a Sturt player was racially abused by a spectator. My understanding is that the culprit was confronted by a Sturt official and subsequently escorted from the ground by police. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that after all the publicity and warnings about this type of behaviour, there are still idiots who keep on doing it. Slow learners I guess.   

Sounds like there was some poor behaviour from both sets of supporters.

Sad really.

countrycousin wrote:I'm reliably informed that an incident occurred during this game, in which a Sturt player was racially abused by a spectator. My understanding is that the culprit was confronted by a Sturt official and subsequently escorted from the ground by police. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that after all the publicity and warnings about this type of behaviour, there are still idiots who keep on doing it. Slow learners I guess.   

That's sad to hear and totally inexcusable.

countrycousin wrote:I'm reliably informed that an incident occurred during this game, in which a Sturt player was racially abused by a spectator. My understanding is that the culprit was confronted by a Sturt official and subsequently escorted from the ground by police. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that after all the publicity and warnings about this type of behaviour, there are still idiots who keep on doing it. Slow learners I guess.   

I'm with you CC, this is disgraceful behaviour and totally unacceptable, name and shame these morons is the way to go IMO.

countrycousin wrote:I'm reliably informed that an incident occurred during this game, in which a Sturt player was racially abused by a spectator. My understanding is that the culprit was confronted by a Sturt official and subsequently escorted from the ground by police. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that after all the publicity and warnings about this type of behaviour, there are still idiots who keep on doing it. Slow learners I guess.   

West Adelaide response http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/club-response-to-incident-july-19-2014/

According to Twitter Adam Hartlett received a 3 match ban with 99 carry over points.

I believe tha Sturt supporter was the same person who was involved when Leigh Treeby was fined last year.

redandblack wrote:I believe tha Sturt supporter was the same person who was involved when Leigh Treeby was fined last year.

if that's true then he (i presume it is a male) should get banned as well & for the rest of this season


as for the Tambling incident, this clown (apologies to the good clowns out there) may've been banned but changing hair color, shaving off or growing a beard, wearing a hat, cap or beanie would be enough of a disguise to get through the gates imho

bayman wrote:

redandblack wrote:I believe tha Sturt supporter was the same person who was involved when Leigh Treeby was fined last year.

if that's true then he (i presume it is a male) should get banned as well & for the rest of this season


as for the Tambling incident, this clown (apologies to the good clowns out there) may've been banned but changing hair color, shaving off or growing a beard, wearing a hat, cap or beanie would be enough of a disguise to get through the gates imho

Or just rocking up to away games as he's only been banned from City Mazda Stadium.