R9: North v Sturt - Sunday 22 May @ Prospect Oval

[Corona Man]

Roosters paying $3.30 at head to head... Very tasty!

Or $3:30 at Red Rooster would get you something tasty also.

Looking like the better investment now... Bugger it all.

[Wedgie]

Well played Sturt, theyre good to watch, made the most of their opportunities.
Entertaining game and good to finally see some opposition fans at Prospect who even made noise!

[CUTTERMAN]

Strong gutsy win by Sturt, North's spread worked well in the first half and part of the third and Sturt's forward entries were pretty poor, similar to last week, once we cleaned that up we got on top. The move of McMahon up forward was the decider, he presented beautifully, ended up with 11 marks.

[Mic]

Thought it was a good game to watch.

North looked good up until the 3rd quarter when they hit a 3-goal lead. Then they just stopped. Can't do that against good sides.

[Magellan]

Well done Sturt. I like the way they play, fast, skilled, and attacking. Should feature prominently at the pointy end of the season.

Despite leading pretty much all day, I was never really confident. Sturt's on ball brigade and overall skills at times cut North apart, and once they started winning the centre clearances we were in trouble. Plus we couldn't take a grab past the centre despite having plenty of chances. There was some crap delivery, but I thought we just kicked to too many contests rather than trying to run the ball and hit targets on a lead.

So while I'm disappointed we lost after being in a winning position, I'm still heartened by our improvement. I think the team and coaches would've taken some lessons from yesterday. We were able to push a form side (and now the top side) for three and a bit quarters. Last years side would've collapsed to a ten goal loss in the same position.

Speaking of improvement, young Alex Spina has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Took two spectacular grabs at half back in the second term, showing some real overhead confidence which you don't see in players of smaller stature.

[therisingblues]

Odds at the beginning of the season:

WA $3
EA $4
NW $5
PA $6.50
CD $8
AC $12
SA $16
GL $21
NA $26
ST $31
I know it's been mentioned a few times in the preview already, but I believe (from reading the posts on here) this game was of a high standard, and looking at those pre-season odds, who would've guessed that Sturt would be playing for top spot after 8 rounds, and that North would be leading the potential league leader by more than three goals 1/2 way through the third quarter?
I wonder how these two sides will cope with the new expectations of them. Especially Sturt, as being the top side also comes with a target on your back IMO.
With the Ravens in a couple of weeks and then a very capable Glenelg, the week after Sturt are going to become the hunted.
Easy to slip under the radar when you're rated 31 tp 1 in a ten team comp, very different when you're top of the tree and all eyes are on you.

[robranisgod]

Anyone else surprised by the official crowd being only 1850. I didn't think it was a great crowd, but it seemed to me to be 2000+. Sturt certainly had a good representation and much of the main grandstand was full.

I didn't go to the North vs Crows game, but those who went to both thought that the crowd on Sunday was at least double that of the previous match. Perhaps the officials added a few to the Crows figure and then subtracted them from the Sturt crowd.

[Magellan]

Anyone else surprised by the official crowd being only 1850. I didn't think it was a great crowd, but it seemed to me to be 2000+. Sturt certainly had a good representation and much of the main grandstand was full.

I didn't go to the North vs Crows game, but those who went to both thought that the crowd on Sunday was at least double that of the previous match. Perhaps the officials added a few to the Crows figure and then subtracted them from the Sturt crowd.

Yep, from my perspective I thought it passed the 2000 mark. Not by a lot, mind you. Certainly there was 400 more people that turned up a couple of weeks prior to watch the PoSAs.

[CUTTERMAN]

Yep, I would've thought 2000

[locky801]

Yep, I would've thought 2000

Grand stand looked pretty full on the highlights package i saw

[johntheclaret]

Maybe the new electronic system is only counting season ticket / membership cards and not those who are just walk on's ?

[therisingblues]

Maybe the new electronic system is only counting season ticket / membership cards and not those who are just walk on's ?

Maybe not counting the opposition supporters?

[scott]

Was there on Sunday and thought the crowd was 2,500 easy.

Same as Noarlunga in round one. Crowd given as 3,800 something but absolutely easily 4,500 plus.

Either our perception of what 2,000 looks like has been skewed by years of figure fudging, or these scanners aren't counting properly. Or they're not counting staff/players anymore. I've been counted less than half the time out of the 20 odd SANFL league matches I've been to this year due to the scanners not working or staff not at the gate.