Sturt's pressure certainly ramped up after Norwood scored the first goal of the second quarter. They absolutely smashed the Legs from that point onwards. Very, very similar to the match against Centrals.

Q1 start to Q2 5m
Disposals - Norwood 109, Sturt 74 (Norwood +35)
Tackles - Norwood 18, Sturt 17 (Norwood +1)
Inside 50s - Norwood 15, Sturt 10 (Norwood +10)
Score - Norwood 6.2 (38), Sturt 1.4 (10) (Norwood +28)

Q2 5m to Q4 finish
Disposals - Norwood 224, Sturt 206 (Norwood +18)
Tackles - Norwood 45, Sturt 61 (Sturt +16)
Inside 50s - Norwood 31, Sturt 32 (Sturt +1)
Score - Norwood 2.7 (19), Sturt 10.5 (65) (Sturt +46)

Chad Cornes was pretty scathing post-match of some the "selfish" efforts of the AFL-listed players.

Well done Doggies. I can't be arsed going through my records but a 52-25 clearance demolition (against what should have been a very solid and mostly-AFL midfield) is right up there with the biggest differentials seen in recent times.

Good time to be alive.

Our under 16s are also undefeated and top of the table with one round to go.

Love all the time, money and effort the SANFL is giving to promote this match.

Just a shame it's almost non-existent for their own competition.

I completely agree with you Jackpot, it's all to easy for people to sit on the sidelines whining without any inclination to do anything.
FWIW I'm looking forward to this AEHCA season and as others have said before if the one dayers don't work, I'm sure there are motions in place that can reverse the changes.

If he was such a commanding leader finnis would be in the A grade?
Ha. The bloke literally pioneered the club's rise from the dead. Try again.

You seem like a top bloke of good charater - you know, not afraid to make sweeping statements and baseless remarks while taking pot shots at people all the while hiding behind an alter-ego. If only I had that courage...

Sunday 16th April
South v Crows @ Noarlunga
This is at Encounter Bay Oval which I think is an excellent piece of fixturing.

Have always said that I think it would be great for South to capture more interest from the vast Fleurieu region by bringing at least one league match per season to GSFL/SFL venues.

Home Crowd Averages
Norwood 3,665
Sturt 3,362
Glenelg 3,010
Port 2,688
< Average 2,468 >
North 2,133
Centrals 1,951
South 1,840
West 1,746
Eagles 1,728
Adelaide 1,348

Total Crowd Averages (Home & Away combined)
Norwood 3,329
Sturt 3,044
Port 2,867
Glenelg 2,673
< Average 2,468 >
Eagles 2,299
North 2,268
Centrals 2,141
Adelaide 2,083
West 1,979
South 1,877

Home Average Crowd Difference (2016 to 2017)
Norwood +712
Sturt +517
Port +498
Glenelg +238
South +226
North +210
West -63
Centrals -431
Eagles -578
Adelaide -1,375

Total Average Crowd Difference (2016 to 2017)
Norwood +681
Port +645
Sturt +391
South +161
West +48
North +37
Glenelg +31
Eagles -67
Centrals -111
Adelaide -407

Crowds are up with seven teams. Down with three, including quite significantly down with Adelaide (they were well over -500 down on last year before playing in front of 3,300 at Norwood last weekend).

Ive offered to send Soda's a copy of the official documentation as SANFL historian/statistcian an hour ago. Will be dropping by the telecast team at richmond next time they televise and happily show them in person and seek an on air qualification from the panel of the day
I just don't understand the need to try and change it now. Who was previously in charge of making this decision and why didn't they change it in 2011?

Mark I did ask this earlier and my post was ignored, but was this decision solely yours? Or did it include other people or SANFL officials?

I only ask as I do remember many years ago that you stated you had decided your personal records would seperate Port pre-2011 from Port post-2011 which I thought seemed unnecessary, but given it wasn't applied in any official capacity, didn't seem to really matter. But now it does.

For all the absolutely fantastic historial and statistical work you do, it does seem like an agenda is being pushed and certainly appears to have stirred a few pots in the SANFL. Happy to be advised otherwise.

With one round remaining, I think it's worth reviewing the draw this season and discuss what's gone right, what's gone wrong and what can be done better in the future.

On average, 26 fewer people have attended each match this season compared to 2016 (2,289 vs 2,314), but feel that's more the result of the SANFL shooting itself in the foot.

The program this season was widely considered to be better than last season's, but still not great given last year's was just awful. The SANFL listened to things such as reducing the saturation of Sunday games and inreasing Friday night matches, but should learn a lot from this year too.

Please leave the AFL bashing to the other thread.


Just some of the things I could quickly think of running through the fixture...

Things that worked
* 3,323 - Norwood twilight game v Adelaide in Round 8 or 9. Having attended this match, I thought the atmosphere was strangely good for a Ravens game. The unique 4:10pm start and 6:30pm finish before it got too cold seemed to provide enough incentive for a decent turnout.

* South v Adelaide at Encounter Bay on Easter Sunday. 2,357 turned up, and the ground was chockers. At least 1,000 more than what they would have got at Noarlunga. South should bring one of their games against Adelaide to the GSFL/SFL each season, because they'll struggle to draw over 1,300 at Noarlunga. There's nothing to lose. The Fleurieu area is so big. Capture the interest of the people. Shit, take a game to Kangaroo Island.

* 2,000 - South v Port as a standalone Sunday game. A big crowd by South's standards and a far cry from the 980-odd in that diabolically-scheduled corresponding match the year before.

* Norwood playing five Friday night games in the first eight week at an average of almost 3,700 per game. It's not unique, but it works. I'd be great if every round for the first eight or so weeks had a Friday night game.


Things that almost worked
* Round 1 opening with three Friday night matches. Almost half of this season's Friday night matches in one night was a downer. Two's company, three's a crowd (or lack of). Two matches collected over 3,500 each, the other just 1,701 in what was probably a saturation of an otherwise good thing. Stick to the two.

* Glenelg hosting Sturt on Good Friday with 4,799 attending. This was a great result make no mistake, and granted it was 1,500 up on their corresponding clash in a regular timeslot the year before. But South went from having 3,900 v Glenelg on Good Friday last year to 1,600 in a regular time slot this year - a drop of 2,300. People will turn up on Good Friday regardless of opposition, so with all due respect, Glenelg would be better hosting a lower-drawing team such as South on Good Friday and getting a decent crowd, and leave the higher-drawing matches to regular season timeslots that'll get a big crowd anyway. It's win:win. Except for Sturt not playing on Good Friday. At least not against Glenelg.

* 2,906 - North hosting Good Friday against Centrals. Not the worst crowd all things considered, and apparently there was an error in the figures, but given Elizabeth hosted the corresponding game the year before with 4,500, it would have been disappointing.


Things that didn't
* Not related to crowd numbers specifically, but radio. This live stream is great, but isn't going to get people to games. Get the footy back on the radio. People listen to it at the ground & in their cars. Just get it back on.

* Round 13 - four games going directly head-to-head against a Saturday afternoon Port AFL game at Adelaide Oval. An average crowd of 1,651 between those games. If we must have split rounds, this is the perfect round to pick - one game at most on Saturday, and one or two on the Sunday.

* Round 15 (week 2) - AFL Showdown on the Sunday, no free-to-air AFL to compete with on Saturday afternoon. So we've scheduled just two matches for the entire round. If five games should ever be scheduled at exactly the same time, this is the round.

* 1,897 - Glenelg v Norwood as the only Saturday night of the season. Granted, crap conditions didn't help, but it was in the middle of winter.

* 1,348 - Adelaide v Port 'SANFL Showdown' at Woodville. I mean, shit. Take these games to the country. Clare worked. Mannum worked. Woodville didn't. Why not play it as a curtain raiser to an AFL showdown? It'd actually make sense.

* 2,641 - North hosting the Queen's Birthday match. Maybe this is the start of the teams sharing the hosting duties, but this was comfortably the lowest crowd for a Queen's Birthday match as far back as I could be bothered going (2011).

* 1,400 - Bordertown game. All the time, money and effort put into bringing this match to the country was completely undone by pitting it head-to-head with a Crows AFL away game live on Seven. As if Crows supporters don't attend league matches already, there was absolutely no chance this was going to improve it. The Crows AFL team were playing in Melbourne - imagine scheduling this for the Saturday instead. Firstly it's not clashing with their AFL team, and secondly you might entice a bunch of their supporters to the game while on their way over to Melbourne. Yeah it probably would have clashed with the local league and Sunday was the best of a shit sandwich, but then why was it scheduled in this round in the first place?

Hearing the SANFL draw is due out next Saturday (normally is out around this time anyway).

Rumour that the season will start Easter weekend - not sure if Easter Thursday or Good Friday for first game/s. There's AFL at Adelaide Oval Thursday night so doubt they'll go head-to-head with that to kick things off. Could have five unique time slots for matches which would be awesome - Good Friday arvo, night, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to kick the season off in style. Three Friday night games last year to start was ok, but to have only 3-4 Fri nights after that was a bit sad.

An Easter start makes for 18 rounds (plus three split rounds and the state game weekend = 4 byes each team) which has the SANFL Grand Final the weekend before the AFL again as per usual.

Only thing confirmed at this stage is Sturt v Port on ANZAC Day as a double-header with the Women's Grand Final.

Women's League starts first weekend in February (same as AFLW) and runs for 10 weeks with two weeks of finals I believe.

Going by the biblical reference, I assume someone or something is being raised from the dead...

You just gotta have radio coverage. End of story.

Whether it's a cost thing or the radio stations are alientated or whatever, it's vital.

Listening on the way to the game, during the game, after the game, to other games. In the car, in the yard, while you're jogging, at the game, through your phone, on your computer, it's easy access.

The digital pass is ok but access is one-dimensional and suits one audience - the one sitting at home on their computer. They're not at the ground and that's the important factor.

You want bums on seats at grounds creating and adding to the atmosphere, contributing to the gate receipts and buying food and drink. You won't get that with a digital pass. You'll get that with well-priced tickets, good footy and people knowing they can listen to the radio. If you must keep tickets at $14 for adults so as not to totally devalue the product, convince others or the family to come - $20 for two adults and limitless kids (who are free anyway). Great deal.

Radio is the future. Not this digital pass stuff.

I propose when there's no AFL in the SANFL, mods close this thread.

What is wrong with the West Adelaide footy Club.Some on another forum" That keep banning me" keep saying but we won a grand final in 2015 .Yes we did but remember the Eagles had so many injuries on the day that helped us a lot. We are a very pathetic Club that is not consistently playing finals but we are always told to support the Club but we never get winning results consistently.Is it the Board ?? is it the Recruiting people ??? Coach NO is it the trainers No is it the Property steward NO the Runner NO.Your thoughts. Sick of supporting a losing team.By the way i am a member.
Definitely know what you're saying, but at least you've won a premiership in your lifetime.

... :(

I don't think Liddle was tripped. Live it looks suss but he turns his body as the tackle starts to drop lower and (Hanna I think it is) seems to actually let go so misses his legs. I also don't think you want 50:50s like that determining the result.

As for the Templeton mark - love when a good pack mark is paid, but that was a rubbish call. First hands but no control at any point. Didn't cost us the game and we didn't deserve the points either. Playing a totally indirect and, at times, disinterested brand of footy didn't help. I'm sure this will be a huge learning curve for the squad and we'll start rolling again.

Credit to Centrals for winning the Integrity Cup. The Mayors Cup has lost a little southern integrity of late. :oops:

I think the last kick/handball out of bounds rule has inadvertently been responsible for less goals the last few years. From what I have seen the majority of these infringements are paid in the forward line of the offending team. What would usually be a boundary throw in deep in attack and a chance to set up for a score, is now a ball rebounded out of the attacking 50.
You're absolutely bloody SPOT ON!

I think I rant this to everyone who listens.

This rule has been seen as the saviour to the SANFL because the scoring has fractionally increased a couple of points per game. Basically so small it's not even noticable and certainly not worth this ridiculous rule. It's only being spruiked by the media because they need to push something all the time. Something always has to change. Once the AFL introduces it, then they'll need to introduce something else. And once that's introduced, them something else will need to change.

I hate the rule in its' current role. If it absolutely has to stay, I'd only apply the rule on the wings between the attacking 50s where 95% of the genuine deliberate out of bounds infringements generally occur. Anything inside the attacking/defending zones are throw-ins. Keep the ball in scoring areas - that's what you want. Not the ball flying back out as soon as it came in.

I have heard many people now say "I used to hate the rule, but now I've gotten used to it". It was introduced to speed the game up. The game doesn't need speeding up. It was introduced to improve scoring. Well, really hasn't done it. It's totally counter-active to scoring as described above. Maybe if scoring was up 20 points per game, then fair enough. But not two or three or whatever it is.

What would improve scoring is having the clock only running when play is actually happening. Stopping the clock for ball-ups and other bits of play where the ball isn't in play. Our scoring is slow because our quarters barely last 25 or 26 minutes. Up to 2-3 minutes per quarter is lost through the ball sitting in the umpires' hands waiting for a ball up and other bits of the game where the clock shouldn't be running (ie forward wasting 40 secs to have a shot for goal). Imagine that extra 8-12 mins of game time across the match.

Instead of trying to manipulate the fabric of the game (ie changing the rules), let the games go the length of time they should. Guaranteed to increase scoring.

Look at 2006.

More, because I'm on a roll.


Since Round 17 2014, there's been just ONE match at SANFL League level where both teams scored 100+ points each. That's just 1 out of the last 373 League matches.

Round 10 2016 @ Alberton Oval
Port Adelaide 1.3 8.5 12.6 17.8 (108)
Glenelg 5.2 6.6 13.10 19.13 (127)

This deliberate out of bounds rule and limited interchanges were introduced from 2016 onwards as the supposed saving grace for improved scoring but aside from scoring slightly increasing in the first year, it just hasn't done anything. Throw-in stoppages are obviously down (it's only referred to as "stoppages being down" in mainstream media to give the impression that ball-up stoppages have reduced as a result of these changes).


Points Per Game
2018 - 157
2017 - 157
2016 - 164 (rule changes introduced)
2015 - 151 (several rounds affected by heavy rain)
2014 - 161

So scoring has actually trended down every year since the rule was introduced after briefly cresting and is still down on 2014 and earlier. Scoring this year was tracking under 157 until two teams combined for 23 goals in the fourth quarter aided by hurricane-force winds. Huge wind machines will be introduced next as it clearly worked in two games this round.

They also weren't impressed by my comment regarding the lack of country matches that don't feature AFL reserves sides.
AFL = Gepetto, SANFL = Pinocchio
Just on country games, you're right. Every country game since 2011 has featured the AFL sides.

Why don't we play more country games though? I know it may cost clubs in lost game-day revenue, but for clashes against lower-drawing teams where it probably costs more to open the venue and play the match, play it elsewhere.

Country games get good crowds when scheduled well. Well, the average is slightly less than the average for H&A matches, just with a new set of people being able to watch.

I'd like to see every club host at least one game in their country zone every two years. I can understand Norwood & Sturt not doing this as their home crowds are excellent. Obviously for Adelaide & Port it'll be different but continuing the tradition of Adelaide hosting Port somewhere outside the metro area works.

From a South point of view, we've gone to Encounter Bay four times in 13 years and our crowds are over 2,000 every time. Last year we got 2,300 over Easter, then barely over 1,000 later in the year at home. We should be playing the Crows every year at least once away from Noarlunga. South v Crows averages 1,282 at Noarlunga since 2015 which is the lowest crowd average for any combination of teams at any venue in that timeframe (second only to South v North and South v West).

COUNTRY GAMES SINCE 2003
3,433 South Adelaide V Sturt @ Encounter Bay Rd 4 2003
2,232 South Adelaide V West Adelaide @ Encounter Bay Rd 3 2006
2,728 South Adelaide V Eagles @ Encounter Bay Rd 1 2007
2,428 West Adelaide V Central District @ Berri Rd 9 2007
2,279 Sturt V South Adelaide @ Murray Bridge Rd 15 2008
2,786 South Adelaide V Norwood @ Encounter Bay Rd 3 2009
2,265 Sturt V West Adelaide @ Waikerie Rd 14 2009
3,063 West Adelaide V Sturt @ Mannum Rd 10 2010
5,312 Adelaide V Port Adelaide @ Clare Rd 5 2014
2,034 Adelaide V Port Adelaide @ Balaklava Rd 7 2015
2,323 Adelaide V Port Adelaide @ Mannum Rd 2 2016
2,059 West Adelaide V Adelaide @ Berri Rd 21 2016
2,357 South Adelaide V Adelaide @ Encounter Bay Rd 2 2017
1,485 Glenelg V Adelaide @ Bordertown Rd 15A 2017 (rain + poor scheduling)
N/A Adelaide V Port Adelaide @ Kadina Rd 14 2018

Scott, do you have data on the average number of tackles per game in recent seasons?

Have noticed a few South games recently having tackle counts that resembled AFL totals (ie 180-200).

Doesn't add to the spectacle/scoring.
Yeah mate.

Average tackles per match (H&A)
2018 - 126.4 (this should climb a fraction more as winter progresses)
2017 - 131.6
2016 - 122.2
2015 - 106.8
2014 - 84.0
2013 - 87.4
2012 - 87.6
2011 - 84.0

Comparing this season to the AFL, tackles per match are 126.4 (SANFL) v 129.6 (AFL) - only about a 2% difference. However, SANFL matches last about 10-15% less than AFL matches. The SANFL also has less stoppages than the AFL so what we're doing at SANFL level clearly isn't working.

It's relentless secondary stoppages which hinder scoring and make games unattractive. Secondary stoppage rates are lower at throw-ins than at ball-ups as, after the umpiring department did away with ball-up bounces a few years ago, the umpires throw the ball up with such accuracy around the ground that the ruckmen know to within about 50cm of where the ball is coming down, and therefore players around the stoppage can set up much closer. Because ruckman engage in the way they do at a stoppage, it's rare for a ball to be smashed out. It's generally just a tap down to the feet of the stoppage. Consider a throw-in where the ball is thrown in a considerable distance and could land anywhere within a 10sqm radius, players at the stoppage generally spread like wildfire.

Throw-ins clearly aren't the problem which is why this deliberate out of bounds rule isn't going to fix stoppages and scoring. All it does it make the rule black and white which at AFL level is currently Russian Roulette.

Once again, we went missing for 1/2 a match. 1 goal in 2 quaters of footy won't get you anywhere.
Last week against West, 2 goals in 2 quarters, almost every match this season we have failed to kick a goal in a quarter. This is a HUGE problem, as Roy stated, we are the half a game side.
And it isn't a coaching issue, it's a players' mindset issue.
We SHOULD be 9 & 5 but lost some close matches, simply because we forgot to score.
You're right. Six of your eight losses have come about from losing one quarter badly and one other from two bad quarters. So you've won the scoreboard for 75% of the match in almost every loss.

Round 2 v Eagles - lost by 27 but conceded 6.3 to 0.2 (-38 pts) in 2nd qtr
Round 3 v Westies - lost by 9 but conceded 3.8 to 0.0 (-26 pts) in 3rd qtr
Round 6 v South - lost by 9 but conceded 4.7 to 0.1 (-30 pts) in 2nd qtr
Round 7 v Sturt - lost by 35 but conceded 8.4 to 2.5 (-35 pts) in 2nd/3rd qtrs
Round 8 v Norwood - bad night
Round 10 v Port - lost by 18 but conceded 6.0 to 3.1 (-17 pts) in 3rd qtr
Round 11 v North - lost by 9 but conceded 7.6 to 4.2 (-22) in 2nd qtr
Round 14 v West - lost by 31 but conceded 6.6 to 1.0 (-36) in 4th qtr

In 51% of your quarters this season you've kicked two goals or less including at least once in every match and 10/14 matches have seen either zero or only one goal kicked.

Go back two weeks and North were the latest miracle. Don't count them out.
Norwood to take the flag IMHO. 4 flags in 8 years, apart from when they were first formed, had Norwood ever had a more successful era?
If you remove the three years without competition due to WWII, Norwood won four of seven flags on offer between 1941 to 1950 and were runner's up once.

They won four in eight between 1922 and 1929 and were runner's up once.

Heard this odd fact from the 2nd game this morning.

Sturt laid 101 tackles and received only 1 holding the ball free. Eagles laid 86 tackles and received 10.