Round 7 North Adelaide v Sturt Saturday 1410

[PanthersFan]

The Roosters host the Double Blues in what shapes as a season defining game for Sturt. Win and they keep pace with the pack but a loss may send them too far back. A lot of changes for Sturt this week and I think North will continue on their winning ways.

My prediction: North Adelaide by 28 points.

[locky801]

High scoring 1st 1/4 at prospect

North 0.3
Sturt 0.1

[locky801]

Not much better at 1/2 time

North 1.9

Sturt 1.3

[Wedgie]

Sturt kicked theirs on the siren.
North should be at least 5 goals up, hope the shocking kicking doesn't come back to bite us on the bum.
Not a breath of wind and no rain.
Bit chilly though.

[Wedgie]

19 points

[Jim05]

Sturt are done for the year

[ChickCock]

Good win u Cocks

[wedgetail]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

[Wedgie]

Sturt were disappointing today, I expected better, they have some damn good players but something's not right there.
North would have wrapped that game up in the first quarter if not for ridiculously bad kicking. Sturt of old would have made them pay but not today.

[southernbulldog]

Sturt will return to form next week we never win at Unley

[rocketeer]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

Watching the game I was trying to decide if they were soft or were hesitant from lack of confidence because they spent long periods just watching and letting North do what they want. It's the worst I've seen from sturt in years.

I'm very happy to get the win but we'll need to improve over 4 quarters to be a good shot at the flag. Second spot is pretty good though when there's definitely room for improvement.

[Spargo]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

Yep, heard the same thing last week.
@Brett what can you share?

[Groucho]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

It's alright he'll find them again next week. Central will play them back to form. I expect a 6 goal loss.

[gazzamagoo]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

It's alright he'll find them again next week. Central will play them back to form. I expect a 6 goal loss.

go and be negative on our game post, don't drag others down

[Magellan]

Watched on the Digital Pass yesterday, and whilst a win is a win, its was horrible to watch. North butchered plenty of opportunities, particularly in the second quarter, and should've put the game beyond doubt at half time. Sturt stuck in there, and I though they had a more than sniff in the last term. Cameron Craig surely must get the three votes (29 possessions from the last line of defence and 14 marks, including a couple of crackers), Harrison Wigg continued his ball-accumulating form, and Andrew Moore was ever reliable at the fall of the ball providing good clearances and touches around the ground. North's defence was also watertight for three quarters, repelled many of Sturt's forward entries with superior numbers at the contest. At the risk of stating the obvious, I suspect Sturt could use some tall timber up forward, as they've still got a core of quality midfield players and creative smaller types.

Some questions for those in the know:

Alex Spina pulled out pre-game, I presume - anyone know why?

Robbie Young was pinged for a deliberate out of bounds when he fisted the ball over the boundary just before half-time - was that a correct decision? Seemed odd to me you could be pinged deliberate for punching the ball out, which happens many times a game.

[robranisgod]

Watched on the Digital Pass yesterday, and whilst a win is a win, its was horrible to watch. North butchered plenty of opportunities, particularly in the second quarter, and should've put the game beyond doubt at half time. Sturt stuck in there, and I though they had a more than sniff in the last term. Cameron Craig surely must get the three votes (29 possessions from the last line of defence and 14 marks, including a couple of crackers), Harrison Wigg continued his ball-accumulating form, and Andrew Moore was ever reliable at the fall of the ball providing good clearances and touches around the ground. North's defence was also watertight for three quarters, repelled many of Sturt's forward entries with superior numbers at the contest. At the risk of stating the obvious, I suspect Sturt could use some tall timber up forward, as they've still got a core of quality midfield players and creative smaller types.

Some questions for those in the know:

Alex Spina pulled out pre-game, I presume - anyone know why?

Robbie Young was pinged for a deliberate out of bounds when he fisted the ball over the boundary just before half-time - was that a correct decision? Seemed odd to me you could be pinged deliberate for punching the ball out, which happens many times a game.

Spina had his thumb bandaged similar to what Alex Barns has had.
I heard him say to someone he would be back this week.
Robbie Young should have marked the ball. I thought that he made a mistake in two handed punching the ball out. Usually when a player punches the ball out of bounds he is spoiling an opponent. Young didn't have an opponent in front of him to spoil.
I thought the umpire made the correct decision.

[mighty hounds]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

Interesting you say that wedge tail as I heard something similar last year from a reliable source. A lot of the players that left mid-season and some that didn't return this year were attributed to a culture change. You could tell he didn't want to tell me more.

[Magellan]

Watched on the Digital Pass yesterday, and whilst a win is a win, its was horrible to watch. North butchered plenty of opportunities, particularly in the second quarter, and should've put the game beyond doubt at half time. Sturt stuck in there, and I though they had a more than sniff in the last term. Cameron Craig surely must get the three votes (29 possessions from the last line of defence and 14 marks, including a couple of crackers), Harrison Wigg continued his ball-accumulating form, and Andrew Moore was ever reliable at the fall of the ball providing good clearances and touches around the ground. North's defence was also watertight for three quarters, repelled many of Sturt's forward entries with superior numbers at the contest. At the risk of stating the obvious, I suspect Sturt could use some tall timber up forward, as they've still got a core of quality midfield players and creative smaller types.

Some questions for those in the know:

Alex Spina pulled out pre-game, I presume - anyone know why?

Robbie Young was pinged for a deliberate out of bounds when he fisted the ball over the boundary just before half-time - was that a correct decision? Seemed odd to me you could be pinged deliberate for punching the ball out, which happens many times a game.

Apart from that effort, Robbie Young played a great game. By the way, I missed on the Digital Pass the incident at the northern end that allowed him to score his first goal early in the third quarter - what happened?

Spina had his thumb bandaged similar to what Alex Barns has had.
I heard him say to someone he would be back this week.
Robbie Young should have marked the ball. I thought that he made a mistake in two handed punching the ball out. Usually when a player punches the ball out of bounds he is spoiling an opponent. Young didn't have an opponent in front of him to spoil.
I thought the umpire made the correct decision.

You're right, as usual, RiG - Rule 17.9.2(b) of the Laws of the game states that a ‘A Free Kick shall be awarded against a Player who Kicks, Handballs or forces the football over the Boundary Line and does not demonstrate sufficient intent to keep the football in play.’

Just on Young, I didn't see the incident the gave him the free kick for his first goal just after half time, what happened?

[Chrisso]

Watched on the Digital Pass yesterday, and whilst a win is a win, its was horrible to watch. North butchered plenty of opportunities, particularly in the second quarter, and should've put the game beyond doubt at half time. Sturt stuck in there, and I though they had a more than sniff in the last term. Cameron Craig surely must get the three votes (29 possessions from the last line of defence and 14 marks, including a couple of crackers), Harrison Wigg continued his ball-accumulating form, and Andrew Moore was ever reliable at the fall of the ball providing good clearances and touches around the ground. North's defence was also watertight for three quarters, repelled many of Sturt's forward entries with superior numbers at the contest. At the risk of stating the obvious, I suspect Sturt could use some tall timber up forward, as they've still got a core of quality midfield players and creative smaller types.

Some questions for those in the know:

Alex Spina pulled out pre-game, I presume - anyone know why?

Robbie Young was pinged for a deliberate out of bounds when he fisted the ball over the boundary just before half-time - was that a correct decision? Seemed odd to me you could be pinged deliberate for punching the ball out, which happens many times a game.

Spina had his thumb bandaged similar to what Alex Barns has had.
I heard him say to someone he would be back this week.
Robbie Young should have marked the ball. I thought that he made a mistake in two handed punching the ball out. Usually when a player punches the ball out of bounds he is spoiling an opponent. Young didn't have an opponent in front of him to spoil.
I thought the umpire made the correct decision.

Young was correctly penalised. He was in front and should've chosen to mark.

That was one of the worst games I've seen in some time. The Sturt game plan baffled me. They didn't even look like they wanted to score. On a few occasions when they had a free kick on the back of the centre square, they had no one beyond the other side of the square. They continued to kick backwards and side-ways all game, even when they were still 3 goals down mid way through the last quarter they didn't even attack.

I also noticed that Grima was very late to address the players between quarters. North had almost returned to their positions by the time Grima got to his team at 3qtr time. Given they conceded 7 goals in the quarter you'd think he'd be keen to address them, instead of shifting magnets on the board.

[Spargo]

Grima lost the players at sturt? Heard from a couple of sources.

Yep, heard the same thing last week.
@Brett what can you share?