RD20 Sturt v West Post Match Review

[magpie in the 80's]

FINAL SCORE

Sturt 24.19.163
West 7.12.54

Sturt:
Goal Kickers: Chambers 6, Herring, Sheedy, Crane, Payne, Gum, Plant, Jaensch ea 2, Johncock, Kurtze, Evans, Wark, ea 1.
Best Players: Sheedy, Jaensch, Crane, McGlone, Chambers, Herring.

West:
Goal Kickers: Munn 2, Bennett, Caire, Webb, Beech, Davies ea 1.
Best Players: Ezard, Fisher, Ferguson, Bricknell, Davies, Munn.

QxQ
Sturt...3.3...10.10..15.13...24.19
WA......1.6....2.3.....7.10.....7.12

Reserves:
Sturt 14.15 Defeated West 11.9

Crowd: 3003

[bloods08]

Devastated. Terrible effort by the boys today. Fisher, Ezard, Ferguson and Lobbe are about the only ones that can hold their heads high.

[spell_check]

6 out of 24, wtf! Don't worry bloods08, you can take it out on us next week.

[bloods08]

6 out of 24, wtf! Don't worry bloods08, you can take it out on us next week.

Lets certaintly hope so.

[blood bath]

Arriving at Sh#@house Oval today I was hopeful, not of a win, but rather being competitive and giving Sturt a decent run for their money and to make a mends for the woeful effort at Waikerie. How wrong could I have been?

The first quarter we again kicked ourselves out of the contest. Willits again was unable to convert in front of goals. We should have been ahead at 1/4 time, but found ourselves behind due to Sturt's more efficient skills. A season ending and season ending 2010 knee injury to Morris will hurt us. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and hopefully it is not as bad as we think it may be.

West appeared flat, not switched on. The 2nd quarter was terrible from west, while sturt pilled on the goals. 3rd quarter west finally showed some fight with 5 goals each. However, the last quarter was terrible, embarrassing with our inability to maintain possession due to poor skill level. It was worse than Waikerie. Ezard and Fisher West's best, thought for Sturt that Herring, Sheedy and Coad were outstanding.

Finally, umpiring was the worst I have seen in many a year. Thought both sides received soft frees while the genuine blatant ones werent called.

Scary thing is that we are still only 1/2 game outside the 5. Today showed the difference in class and how far off we really are.

[bloods08]

Arriving at Sh#@house Oval today I was hopeful, not of a win, but rather being competitive and giving Sturt a decent run for their money and to make a mends for the woeful effort at Waikerie. How wrong could I have been?

The first quarter we again kicked ourselves out of the contest. Willits again was unable to convert in front of goals. We should have been ahead at 1/4 time, but found ourselves behind due to Sturt's more efficient skills. A season ending and season ending 2010 knee injury to Morris will hurt us. I hope he makes a speedy recovery and hopefully it is not as bad as we think it may be.

West appeared flat, not switched on. The 2nd quarter was terrible from west, while sturt pilled on the goals. 3rd quarter west finally showed some fight with 5 goals each. However, the last quarter was terrible, embarrassing with our inability to maintain possession due to poor skill level. It was worse than Waikerie. Ezard and Fisher West's best, thought for Sturt that Herring, Sheedy and Coad were outstanding.

Finally, umpiring was the worst I have seen in many a year. Thought both sides received soft frees while the genuine blatant ones werent called.

Scary thing is that we are still only 1/2 game outside the 5. Today showed the difference in class and how far off we really are.

Good review blood bath. Can not believe that Ferguson was not given a go on Herring, considering Herring dominated the first half.

[Thiele]

Looks like Steven Morris will be out for the season with a knee

[dsriggs]

6 out of 24, wtf! Don't worry bloods08, you can take it out on us next week.

Lets certaintly hope so.

I think just about everybody hopes so, to be honest...

[Thiele]

Wrost than Wakerie

[am Bays]

Good review blood bath. Can not believe that Ferguson was not given a go on Herring, considering Herring dominated the first half.

Did Herring stay off in the last qtr? He was put on ice at the 10 min mark of the 3rd qtr. If Ferguson had been moved to Herring he might have had to been more accountable given he was zoning off Johncock

[CK]

Would think West fans would be very disappointed with a number of parts of this game. The Morris injury seemed to set the tone for one of those days. While they started brightly in the first term, their finishing with the wind left a bit to be desired, although a number of shots from 50 and beyond.

After that, all Sturt around the stoppages and the clearances. Herring's first half was outstanding and took the focus from Chambers, who was being contained by Michael Pettigrew. Sheedy won plenty of it through the middle and Gum's second half was brilliant - would have to be picking up Magarey votes. The battle between Kurtze and Lobbe in ruck was very interesting, Lobbe did well at the stoppages, but Kurtze probably more damaging around the ground. Toby Thurstans had a couple of clangers early and gave Ryan Willits a bit too much space when shifted onto him initially, but had a big second half.

West made some really odd skill decisions at times and looked flustered against the relentless Sturt pressure. Ezard tried really hard but was wound in, apart from a big mark by Fisher in the second term, there really wasn't much to write home about in the last term, and Andrew Collins will probably review the tape a number of times to look at the tackling. That aspect started really well, but faded dramatically. Some of the skill execution into the forward 50 must have given some of their forwards nightmares, which probably symbolised Sturt's pressure. Too often, Sturt's runners given far too much latitude to work into after turnovers.

I'll leave a couple of other parts of the game to Redandblack to look at.

[csbowes]

Just look at the scoreline when Sturt had the wind. It was 16.13 to 1.4. That is simply amazing to have a game where for half of it, West were only a goal or two behind the Blues, but in the other half Sturt won by just a tad under 100 points. The Sturt machine is really humming at the moment, but I think all fans know all too well that the REAL challenges (no disrespect here) come in the next fortnight when we match up against the top two at Unley (v Glenelg) and Elizabeth (v Central).

I actually felt sorry for West somewhat today. I obviously wasn't watching them as closely, but I didn't feel they were belted by what the scoreline in fact shows. It didn't seem that way, but I think that was simply because inbetween each Sturt rampage was a competitive quarter, so it wasn't like we were kicking 6 goals to 1 each term on our way to an 18 goal win. I think West should just forget the game and concentrate on finishing off the season in the fine form they've shown in recent weeks.

For Sturt, as said, its about meeting the top two teams and getting something from those games, not necessarily a win, but something that keeps the momentum and confidence going into the major round.

[blood bath]

Did anyone else today at Unley see West's new recruit for the 2010 season having a look at the standard of the league? None others than Brendan Fevola!!! Would look good in a red and black jumper.

[wycbloods]

We just can't match Sturt .

Hope Morris is ok

What is the average losing margin the last 5 years Spelly? Must be around 75 points.

[redandblack]

West v Sturt from a West supporter’s point of view:

We wuz robbed!!!!

Hang on, I’ll start again.

I missed the game at Waikerie, so they thoughtfully decided to replay it for me. I wished they hadn’t. West started with a strong breeze and played some pretty good footy, until they had to shoot for goal. Jimmy Ezard was on fire and West were OK, but Sturt held up well into the breeze and had Herring dominating at CHF. In the second quarter, Herring continued to dominate and was joined by plenty of mates. West came out after half-time and kicked five goals in the third quarter. Sturt kicked five into the breeze and smashed West again in the last quarter to win by a lazy……..no, I can’t bring myself to say how much. Look it up, if you have to.

If you think that’s a poor match review, you’re right, but it’s all you need to know. You’re better off reading about the best players and a few random points, as follows:

It won’t surprise that, as a West fan, I’ve got Sturt as comfortably the best team going around, but the Bloods have rebounded from the Sturt smashings to run the Bays to 4 points the week after the first loss and to beat Centrals the week after the second. That’s what I’m hanging on to this week. The loss isn’t that important in the scheme of things, but the knee injury to the tough Steve Morris is.

Let’s look at Sturt today. Sturt fans will have to excuse me if I get their best players wrong, as I’m obviously not an expert on their players, but I’ll have a go. To me, Sheedy and Gum stood out. Sheedy plays smart and Gum is a bloody nuisance, but a very effective nuisance. Herring was B.O.G at half-time, but spent time off the ground in the second half. Sturt have a host of effective other players; Evans, Crane and Payne were effective, Cubillo didn’t get many kicks, but won a lot of hard centre clearances and Bratton racked up stats. I was impressed with young Trengove, who seemed to play on the outer side of the ground all day . McGlone did his thing from defence, Coad was good without being outstanding, Avery did a good job on Bennett, along with Wark in defence. Kurtze was influential at times and Chambers kicked 6.

All supporters know what it’s like in ‘junk-time’ at such games. The time clock winds even more slowly than usual, the opposition full-back kicks a goal, your players stagger from one embarrassing turnover to the next even more embarrassing clanger and you think nothing worse could possibly happen.

It does.

So to West’s best players. It won’t take long. Jimmy Ezard was probably 2nd best on ground at half-time and battled through to the end with over 30 good possessions against a tidal wave of opposition. He probably won’t get a MM vote for today, but he showed why he’s leading some awards. Honourable mentions to the courageous Ben Fisher, who drew plaudits from both sets of supporters at times and also Ryan Ferguson, who was effective and strong in defence.

Random points? Well, I’ve never joined the anti-Unley Oval clan and have some sympathy with those double-blues supporters who have explained their feeling for the ground. It does have history, especially when Bruce Lindner kicked 5 goals in the last quarter in 1983 when shifted to full-forward. I think that’s the last time we won at the ground. I do, however, have to comment on one peculiarity of the Unley crowd. If Chambers doesn’t mark in a contest, it’s not necessarily a free kick to him. Opponents are allowed to spoil. Have a look at the treatment given to the other team's full-forward also.

Secondly, I wonder if CK’s last sentence referring to me might have been in anticipation of my comments about the umpiring, so I won’t disappoint. I think I might be able to present a united front with the more astute Sturt supporters in saying that it was confusing. Perhaps confusing isn’t the right word; perhaps inconsistent, puzzling and diabolical might be closer to the mark. Memo to the umps: if someone breathes on someone’s shoulder, it’s not a free kick for ‘too high’. If someone smashes a player going for a mark while not looking at the footy, it’s not ‘play on’. As for the consistent interpretation of the holding the ball rule, we’ll book a month-long seminar so they can explain it to us.

At least there was some umpiring humour in the Ressies. The most experienced umpire in the Reserves threw the ball up. The wind blew it 20 metres away to an unmarked Sturt player who passed to another Sturt player, who goaled. I suppose you can’t recall a throw up. However, the same umpire added humour and disbelief to everyone’s day with the worst decision anyone at the ground had seen for many a long day. A Sturt player with the ball ‘took on’ an opponent, but was beautifully tackled low around the waist. He looked startled for 5 seconds, then looked for someone to give off to. Eventually, in disgust, he decide to just drop the footy. The whistle blew as the West supporters shouted ‘holding the ball’ for the third time in the tackle.

“Too high”. Even the Sturt crowd laughed their heads off.

My apologies for droning on. It’s been that sort of day if you’re a West fan today, but credit to Sturt, they were skilled and terrific.

As for me, there’s always next week and I’ll be there watching us take on the Eagles.

Oh, one last thing. Surely we don’t have to play Sturt at Unley again for a few years?

Please.....

[the tractor]

Would think West fans would be very disappointed with a number of parts of this game. The Morris injury seemed to set the tone for one of those days. While they started brightly in the first term, their finishing with the wind left a bit to be desired, although a number of shots from 50 and beyond.

After that, all Sturt around the stoppages and the clearances. Herring's first half was outstanding and took the focus from Chambers, who was being contained by Michael Pettigrew. Sheedy won plenty of it through the middle and Gum's second half was brilliant - would have to be picking up Magarey votes. The battle between Kurtze and Lobbe in ruck was very interesting, Lobbe did well at the stoppages, but Kurtze probably more damaging around the ground. Toby Thurstans had a couple of clangers early and gave Ryan Willits a bit too much space when shifted onto him initially, but had a big second half.

West made some really odd skill decisions at times and looked flustered against the relentless Sturt pressure. Ezard tried really hard but was wound in, apart from a big mark by Fisher in the second term, there really wasn't much to write home about in the last term, and Andrew Collins will probably review the tape a number of times to look at the tackling. That aspect started really well, but faded dramatically. Some of the skill execution into the forward 50 must have given some of their forwards nightmares, which probably symbolised Sturt's pressure. Too often, Sturt's runners given far too much latitude to work into after turnovers.

I'll leave a couple of other parts of the game to Redandblack to look at.

Good to see you, well your photo, on the tv today Spider!

[FEUNG]

Sturt brilliant coached by a former Bloods'captain.West crap but then again we are Sturts bitches.

[spell_check]

We just can't match Sturt .

Hope Morris is ok

What is the average losing margin the last 5 years Spelly? Must be around 75 points.

56.5 points since 2005.

West have won once since 1998 at Unley, Round 9 2000. Since 1998, the average losing margin at Unley for West is 55.8.

[Chambo100]

West v Sturt from a West supporter’s point of view:

Oh, one last thing. Surely we don’t have to play Sturt at Unley again for a few years?

Please.....

Happy to play you in Waikerie anytime!
Lovely place.

As to the rest, not much point saying anything really, except just hang in there!

[Voice]

Sturt brilliant coached by a former Bloods'captain.West crap but then again we are Sturts bitches.

We play pretty well on our shitty ground, don't we?
Wouldn't you love to do that to a team at Shitty Jap Car Oval FEUNG?