Australian Football

Match Report

We now head across town to the southern fringe of the city and to the tree-lined streets of Unley, where the Double Blues faced the Magpies at Wigan Oval. The Blues have had the wood on the Magpies for the previous five outings after dropping points to them in the three meetings before those. In last year's encounters, the Blues took the points in Round 4 at Alberton then again in Round 17 at Oxford Terrace. In the earlier game these two were only separated by a single kick at each change, but the 'Pies dropped their bundle in the final term, restricted to one behind while the Blues kicked three goals to win by 13 points. The second outing was far more clear cut, the Blues blasting out the blocks early to be eight goals ahead by half-time on their way to a 31-point triumph. The Blues were victorious last week against the Redlegs at The Parade to make it two from two, while the Magpies were outrun under lights at Brighton Road. The Blues started strong early, kicking to a three-goal lead before the Magpies kicked one of their own, but a pair of late goals brought the gap back to five points with the board reading 4.1 to 3.2. But that fightback was short-lived though, just like their last meeting it was only going to take one solid quarter of football to put away their old-time rivals. The Blues kept the Magpies to just 1.3 in the second quarter, while bagging 6.2 for themselves to run out to a 34-point half-time advantage. Very little would change from here, though a couple of goals within six minutes drew the gap down some early on, the Blues answered their goals practically every time. Port were also rather prone to giving away some avoidable free kicks and the Blues would keep them well at bay. Sturt added 4.3 to the Magpies' 3.3 as the home side's lead crept out to 40 points by three quarter-time. The Blues' lead would get as far as 50 points by the 18th minute of the final term, only a couple of late majors and Sturt's last quarter inaccuracy made the final margin a bit less embarrassing for the visitors. Port outscored the Blues 3.2 to 2.6, reducing the eventual loss margin to 38 points. Another baptism of fire for a Port coach, with Hamish Hartlett standing in for Tyson Goldsack who was absent. Patrick Wilson was an absolute machine for Sturt, with 28 disposals, six clearances and 10 tackles. For the Magpies, Trent Dumont was their best with 26 disposals, nine clearances and six tackles as well as winning three free kicks. Honourable mentions for both would be Sturt's Tom Lewis and Port's Nick Moore, whose tackle counts made around a fifth of their team's overall tallies.