Australian Football

Match Report

The Port Adelaide Football Club were once the all-conquering force in South Australian football. Just look at the record books. Their feats are legendary, the club has been involved in many memorable Grand Finals and have etched themselves in the very fabric of the game itself at state league level and nationally. 36 premierships and four-time Australian champions, a record run of six straight flags from 1954-1959 which is still an Australian record to this day. They are also credited with a lot of VFL/AFL talent. It is that history that saw them reach the pinnacle of football in 1997 when they were finally accepted into the AFL. But that entry was mired in controversy, not just because of their earlier thwarted bid which saw the Adelaide Football Club's creation in 1990, but once they did break into the national league, there was flow-on effect at SANFL level. It didn't happen straight away, after a loss in 1997 to old rivals Norwood they went on to claim their last two premierships in 1998 and 1999. From there the Magpies have endured a dry spell not seen since their 1965 triumph, where they didn't taste glory until the league's centenary 1977 season. While all this was going on, the club was toasting the Power's inaugural AFL title in 2004. At the end of the 2013 season, the Magpies were officially made the reserves team to the Power and it almost paid dividends. The Magpies would get their shot at the trophy in 2014, but fell agonisingly short to the Redlegs by four points. The following year would end at the hands of Centrals in a 1st Semi-Final, then a sixth-placed finish in 2016.

Sturt Football Club was brought into being in 1901, with a premiership history not as huge as the Magpies but have got more than a few things to brag about. Their first experience on the big day as it was back then, was in 1910 against Port. That ended in defeat, but revenge would come albeit five years later when they took their first premiership against the 'Pies in 1915 before the first World War. The Blues defended their title in 1919 once hostilities ceased, taking their second title against North Adelaide. The real rivalry against Port was ignited in the mid-60's, after their loss in the 1965 decider the Blues went back to the drawing board. The Jack Oatey revolution was about to begin. Under his tutelage and increased use of handball, Sturt toppled the Magpies over the next three Grand Finals and took the Blues to five straight flags from 1966 to 1970. The first premiership decider at Football Park in 1974 also went their way under Oatey, then another triumphant outing against Port in the famous 1976 match in front of almost 67,000 people. After that the Blues endured two losing Grand Finals, the one-point heartbreaker against Norwood in1978 and the 1983 loss to West Adelaide. The Blues wandered from one disaster to the next over the ensuing years, their best finish coming in 1998 after losing to Port in the decider after several lower-five finishes over the course of the late 80's and the 90's. A 13th title finally came in 2002 against the Bulldogs, but it would be another 14 years before that euphoria came again, the Bulldogs getting their revenge in the 2009 final.

This season, Sturt began their 2016 flag defence on shaky ground. Their first four games ended in defeat, including their first encounter with the Magpies at Alberton in Round 5 where Port handed the Blues a 10-goal hiding. They shook off the cobwebs against the Bloods the following week, the first of eight straight wins which included a return game victory against Port at Unley. The streak was brought to an end by early premiership favourites Woodville-West Torrens, but they were right back on the horse after that, starting against the Dogs at Elizabeth and only dropping points in the final round with a draw against the Redlegs at The Parade. The Magpies started the year with a shock loss to Glenelg at Tiger-land, but won the next five games including the aforementioned Round 5 game. After a loss to the Eagles at Alberton in Round 6, the Pies went on a mini-rampage in which they amassed a total winning margin of 217 points over three games. A mid-season funk saw the Pies drop three of the next four matches, including a surprise 14-point loss to Centrals at Elizabeth after punishing the underperforming Adelaide the week before. Port wouldn't drop another game after that, right up to the 2nd Semi-Final where they outran the Blues, who eliminated the Eagles in the Preliminary Final.

This was going to be one of the most tactical grand finals in recent memory, it almost resembled a game of chess with defence made almost top priority despite the obvious flooding tactics of modern football. The Magpies' opening quarter had a swag of missed opportunities, Jake Neade fluffing a pair of shots in the first six minutes. Kory Beard would take the first goal of the game after seven minutes, the Farmer Medal runner-up making up for a rookie error only seconds earlier. The Magpies finally found the big sticks inside the 10th minute, a Jesse Palmer tackle and subsequent free kick allowed him to find Neade, who put Port's first major on the board to make up for the earlier misses. The Blues put another couple on the board mid-way through the term thanks to Mark Evans and Thomas Harms, while Jake Sutcliffe goaled in time-on as did Matt Lobbe for the Magpies. At quarter-time it was 4.1 to 2.3, a 10-point lead to the Blues. The chess reference was definitely justified in the next two quarters, the goals were really precious commodities here. Both sides would manage just one goal each, Josh Hone for the Blues at six minutes and Thomas Gray for Port at 11 minutes. The Blues lead was extended to two goals by half-time, they added three behinds to the Magpies' one.

The third quarter was only going to be remembered for one thing, all-out defence. Especially for the Double Blues, whose defence was tested time and time again by the Magpies who kept on coming but for little reward against the likes of Fraser Evans and Jack Stephens. Gray, Todd Marshall and Ken Farmer Medallist Brett Eddy's attempts at goal all went wide, while at the other end, two rushed behinds and the only goal for the term from Aidan Riley saw the Blues lead by 17 points at three quarter-time. Again in the final term, the defence of the Blues would be sorely tested. This time however, the Magpies started to break through the otherwise miserly Sturt backline. Three goals over a period of nine minutes from the fourth into the 13th by Neade, Gray and Brendon AhChee suddenly had the Magpies back in the hunt with the scores squared up. A horrid defensive error by Logan Austin on Beard would hand the Blues a goal at the 18th minute, then a James Battersby behind near the 22nd minute would put the pressure back onto the Magpies. AhChee nailed a goal at the 24th minute, bringing it back to a point and again Sturt's defence had to step up. It would be a nail-biting final minutes as the Blues blasted the ball back to their end where it stayed holed up until the siren. Premiership defence successful as the Blues celebrated and the Magpies players crashed to the turf.

Among the best on the ground for the Double Blues, always at the front of things is captain Zane Kirkwood who racked up 22 disposals without marking, veteran Scott McMahon took 15 disposals with five marks and Jack Stephens' defensive antics netted him 15 disposals and six marks. For the Magpies, Jimmy Toumpas got the most of the ball out of everyone on field, he took nine marks and 29 disposals. Captain Steve Summerton was his usual man-possessed with 22 disposals and three marks in an unlucky afternoon. But there can be only one Jack Oatey Medallist, that honour fell to Sturt's Fraser Evans who was a vital cog in the Blues' defence that withstood the final term Port onslaught.