Australian Football

Match Report

In the inner southern suburbs, the Double Blues faced the Roosters at the Peter Motley Oval in Unley. It was back in Round 9 when the Blues and the Roosters last locked horns, the Blues taking a 20-point win at Prospect after being behind at every change by no more than 13 points. It was the last quarter effort that brought home the bacon for Sturt, keeping the Roosters to one goal while taking five of their own. The Blues got a bit of a shock from fellow finals qualifiers South Adelaide before last weekend's bye, going down by 49 points mainly due to a horrid time in goal. The Roosters were next to feel South's wrath while the Blues were off last weekend. After a couple of weeks on the wrong end of the stick from the Eagles and the Panthers, the Sturt faithful demanded action.

They started off on the right note, taking advantage of North's inaccuracy to get out to a 23-point lead at quarter-time after scoring 5.3 to 1.4. But the Roosters hit back in the second quarter, bringing the gap back to a single accurate shot by the long break after kicking 4.2 to 1.3. The Blues got back on track in the third quarter, scoring five goals without a miss to the Roosters' 2.2 to restore their earlier advantage. At three quarter-time, the Blues were back to a 22-point lead. The Roosters rallied once more in the final term, but would fall a kick short in their final game for the year, scoring 4.1 to 1.1 to go down by four points in a final term of football that would have everyone at Oxford Avenue concerned ahead of September.

Zane Kirkwood was once again named best for Sturt, the Roosters named Mitch Clisby as their best.