Australian Football

Match Report

The last of the Saturday matches takes us over to the inner southern suburbs and into the Wigan Oval in Unley where the Double Blues clashed with the Magpies. Their last game was a low-scoring one, with the Blues coming out 13-point winners at Alberton back in Round 4. The game was low-scoring with just 16 goals scored for the day, the Blues finally putting the Magpies to the sword in the final term. The gap at the breaks never exceeded more than a single straight shot and at the final change, the Pies led by just six points. But a final term lapse saw Port drop the points, held to just one behind while the Blues kicked 3.2 on their way to victory. Back a fortnight ago, only the Magpies emerged with any points after their win against Centrals at Woodville, while Sturt were shocked by the Panthers at Unley in a horrid second half display. No doubt with that loss stuck in their minds and their fifth spot still very much on the line, the Blues went right to work. They held the Magpies to a measly two behinds whilst bagging 5.4 for themselves to go into the quarter-time huddle with a 32-point lead. The Magpies' woes continued right up to the long break, adding only 1.1 to their score as the gap blew out to 51 points after Sturt scored 4.2. Any pride that the Magpies had got from their hard-fought win at Woodville had evaporated and it was basically back to the doldrums. There was little more that the Blues needed to do except not blow their advantage as any big win would be favourable in terms of their percentage on the league ladder. Port's third quarter was a better showing, but their accuracy would only allow them to reduce the gap down by 10 points from the half-time deficit. They scored 3.5 to 2.1, Sturt's lead drawn back to 41 points. To the Magpies credit, they didn't lay down, but Sturt's defences would only allow them so much lee-way. In the final term, Port scored a further 3.4 to two goals, the Blues running out easy 31-point winners. James Battersby looks like a shoe-in for the Morton Medal for this year, again voted best afield with 25 disposals, nine marks and six tackles. Jackson Mead was Port's best with 27 disposals, 11 tackles and seven marks.