Australian Football

Match Report

We head over to the City Mazda Stadium in Richmond where the Bloods played host to the Double Blues. These two clubs have had some tit-for-tat exchanges in the last couple of years. From the Westies victory at Mannum that snapped Sturt's streak of wins to their most recent victory at Unley, the last six matches have seen the Bloods win four from six with Sturt's last victory coming in mid-2011.

With a hat-trick opportunity at hand, the Bloods began proceedings by kicking 3.1 to Sturt's horribly inaccurate 2.5 to lead by two points at quarter-time. Sturt's goalfront nightmares that cost them last week continued into the second quarter here, adding just 2.4 while the Bloods kicked away to a half-time lead of 18 points after adding 5.2 for themselves. The most unbelievable stat for this match was definitely the free kick count, by the end of the match it would read 28-13 in favour of the visitors. But unfortunately for the Blues, it would count for little on the scoreboard as they would rarely find themselves in a position to threaten the home side. The Bloods would extend their advantage when play resumed, they added a further 4.3 to the Blues' lowly 1.2 to take the deficit out to 43 points at three quarter-time. The final quarter would not be a mercy killing, but a slaughter. The Bloods would keep the Blues to just 2.2 while they rammed home 7.3 to take a 68-point win.

Chris Schmidt was voted best afield for the Bloods, while Sturt named Aidan Riley as their standout.