Australian Football

Match Report

The last game for the weekend took place back in the inner south of town, the Double Blues hosting the Bulldogs at the Peter Motley Oval in Unley. Back in Round 7, the reigning premiers took down the Dogs at Elizabeth, coming back from 17 points down at quarter-time to win by 35 points. That game was the Bulldogs' on-off football probably at its worst, they clearly had the tools to challenge the Blues but no ongoing firepower. The Dogs fought out a dour battle against a possession-happy Crows outfit for a 16-point win, while the Blues got back on course with their 23-point away win against the Eagles. The Blues' one sticking point over the last few weeks has been their tendency to have that one horrid term, whether it's inaccuracy or a lapse in defence allowing the opposition to reel them back to within striking distance. 

Today it just took one honest term of attacking football for the Blues to assure themselves victory, holding the Dogs scoreless whilst scoring 8.3 to lead by 51 points at quarter-time. That deficit was stretched to 68 points by the long break, the Blues adding 5.2 to the Bulldogs' 4.3 in the second quarter. From here the Dogs could only attempt to lessen the overall damage done, the Blues having one of those lowly quarters of football again. They were kept to 1.4, but Centrals could only manage 2.1 to reduce the home side's lead to 53 points. In the end the Blues' only issue was their inability to string four full quarters together, the damage was done long before as a shootout ensued for the final term. Sturt would run out 51-point winners, the Dogs inaccuracy in the last quarter stopping them from perhaps going down more honourably after outscoring the Blues 4.5 to 4.3. 

Jack Osborn was named Sturt's best, the Dogs voted in Brendan Dew as their best.