A dominant Sturt outfit downed a young Port Adelaide side on Saturday afternoon at Alberton Oval, with the ladder-leaders finishing the game 22.11 (143) to 10.9 (69).
A rowdy crowd, made up of equal parts Magpies and Double Blues supporters, gathered at Alberton Oval under a cloudy sky in perfect football conditions.
In a rare appearance in the forward line since his early days at Alberton, Dylan Williams was a shining light for the home side, slotting a career-high seven goals and providing some spark throughout.
The Magpies began with high intensity and led by a point at the first break, but the Double Blues broke the back of the game quickly in the second, producing an eight-goal term, including four majors inside the first seven minutes.
Head coach Hamish Hartlett was happy with the work-rate early, but said Sturt got the upper hand from quarter-time.
“I was pretty pleased with the first quarter,” Hartlett said.
“I thought that we were playing a game that stacked up pretty well against a very good team. We were competing well in the contest, defending reasonably well, and our offence was looking reasonably dangerous. But then after quarter time, we were comprehensively beaten in every area of the game.”
Sturt’s incredible unbeaten run continued, with the experienced side marking its 13th win from 13 games this season, and its 26th consecutive minor-round victory.
And while Hartlett tinkered with tactics throughout the match to combat the visitors’ strengths, the playing group found it challenging to break Sturt’s connection and stem the flow of goals.
“We tried a lot of things throughout the game, various different modes of ball movement, putting numbers around the footy, putting numbers behind the ball, and trying a lot of a lot of different tactics,” Hartlett said.
“For the playing group out there, they were their trying to hardest implement everything. And I thought in the last quarter, we tried to take on the game a little bit more, and they continued to do that right to the very end. So that was one minor pleasing aspect.”
Port Adelaide won clearances and hitouts, with Ivan Soldo (32 hitouts, 11 disposals, six clearances) toiling all day in the ruck, but the Double Blues dominated the inside-50 count 52-33, eventually tiring the Magpies’ defence.
Leading by 57 points at three-quarter time, Sturt piled on six straight goals to start the final term, and while Port Adelaide could have dropped their heads, they were able to respond with three majors to finish the match.
Williams (seven goals, seven marks) scored with nine of his 11 disposals and took two huge grabs to finish best on ground for the Magpies, while SANFL-listed players Jack Watkins (28 disposals, five marks, five clearances), Rome Burgoyne (19 disposals, three tackles) and Jake Weidemann (17 disposals, eight marks) all worked hard.
“With the changes that happened, especially with Lordo (Ollie Lord) going (into the AFL side), there was a little bit of firepower that was going to be potentially missing up forward,” Hartlett said.
“We knew that Dyl was a proven goal kicker. I must be honest, I wasn't expecting him to kick seven, but we were very pleased with that return for him. We felt like the (SANFL-listed) guys that were brought in could come into the backline and do a reasonable job down there, so Dyl was the logical choice to go forward.
“I thought Watto (Jack Watkins) was good. He tried hard around the footy. Christian Moraes did some okay things out on the wing and Jake Weidemann came in and played pretty well down back too.”
First-year AFL player Josh Lai had some good moments in defence with nine marks, while small forward Tom Anastasopoulos provided glimpses of entertainment with two nice goals.
Port Adelaide will have the chance to bounce back next Sunday afternoon at Prospect Oval as it takes on North Adelaide from 1:10pm.
Scoreboard
Port Adelaide 3.2 5.3 7.6 10.9 (69)
Sturt 3.1 11.5 16.9 22.11 (143)
Best: Williams, Lai, Watkins, Weidemann, Burgoyne, Berry.
Goals: Williams 7, Anastasopoulos 2, Evans.
