SA Footy

Eagles 17.11 113
Sturt 15.17 107

One of the best games of footy I have been to in ages. Great sunny conditions, no wind and a cracking game of footy played by two teams with more emphasis on scoring rather than restricting.

Eagles got out to a reasonable 5 goal margin early in the third but Sturt never looked like a team who were out of the match. Both sides had no trouble having shots on goal except while the Eagles were landing their opportunities, Sturt were a bit wasteful.

Sturt were always going to come back but I was confident the eagles would keep their noses in front throughout. I was less confident after Sturt hit the front and with a large vocal home supporter based I expected them to keep on pushing ahead. Eagles dug deep and were able to scrap their way to a win in the large quarter. All in all a very entertaining game.

I didn’t think there was any standout for the eagles as all did their job. Powell had one of his better games, Poole was really good in the last half. Wundke played his best game for the club. Batley gave lots of rebound from the backlines including probably the goal of the day after his run from half back. Goldsworthy also played his best game for the season and Bornholm gave his all in ruck despite being beaten by Kurtze.
A couple of glaring things though that the eagles need to consider.

Sumner and Jarrad are pure fielders yet Godden is determined they be seen as defenders. This works ok when the game is being played on our terms but when the tide is against us they are both liabilities down back for their inability to defend, lack of defensive mindset and obvious dislike of any body contact. If the ball is brought in quickly to a contest involving either of them, their opponent usually wins. On three times throughout the match Jarrad was soundly beaten as he has clearly no idea how to spoil. This almost cost the match. They should be both played on the wing and on the half back line as an absolute minimum.

The other thing we need to be careful of is that we are carrying about 4 guys who appear to be on verge of (if not already) overweight for a footy player. Incredible really. Makes me wonder whether the conditioning coach got us fit over the pre-season. Will be interesting how we fare against quick teams on big playing decks.

Was a really enjoyable game in great conditions with a good size crowd. Plenty of atmosphere and plenty of goals being scored.

Wundke and Ainger were fantastic early, making sure the Eagles made the most of their inside 50's. Borholm chipped in with a couple - stretching Sturt's defence. Batley kicked one of the best running goals you'll see - taking possession at half back, a quick turn of foot, and then about 5 bounces with a Sturt player within a metre of him most of the way before sending the ball through goal post height. Mcgregor soared above half a dozen guys twice his size to take a brilliant one grab pack mark at Full Forward - rivalling Batley's goal as highlight of the day.

Sturt probably unlucky not to pinch the win with the amount of scoring shots they had, even though the Eagles led for most of the day and kicked out to 5 goals in front during the 3rd quarter.

A chance to go equal top against South next week at Noarlunga.

Sounds like a cracker. Only managed to catch the final 5 minutes or so on the radio. Good to see both teams pass 100, doesn't happen all that often anymore unfortunately.

Official crowd no.?

zipzap wrote:Official crowd no.?

There were 3,898 at Envestra Park, Unely, this afternoon...

Thanks Phil, that surprises me a bit but good crowd

Good crowd numbers this week. Would be interesting to know how the total compares to previous years. Would be around 25,000 for the entire round?

Mr Fuller wrote:Good crowd numbers this week. Would be interesting to know how the total compares to previous years. Would be around 25,000 for the entire round?

Courtesy of Phil Herden, from FOOTe TIMES:

This round is the first since the Crows entered the AFL that the SANFL has had 2 different games in the same round both draw a crowd over 9,000 . (Previous Rd 2 Anzac Day 1990)

- The crowds at Adelaide & Glenelg were the 10th & 11th highest for a single game respectively since Port entered the AFL in 1997.


o Highest crowd for single round since Adelaide entered AFL
Rd 20 Sat Sept 8 1990 (last round of SANFL pre Crows entry) – 44,971 (5 game round)

NB – Obviously this weekend’s figure is for a 5 game round, and previous ones in 2001, 1997 & 1994 are for 4 games.

The average of 5,543 per game was highest since Rd 6 2001

Knew it would be tough for us and honestly didn't expect to get that close. On radio sounded like a good game but we wasted our shots and it's hard to claw back from a hole you dig yourself. Well played eags.

Good crowd and high scoring game, better that than a defensive struggle. Tough next two weeks for sturt, might be 3-3 before we hit west

zipzap wrote:Thanks Phil, that surprises me a bit but good crowd

I was in and amongst the crowd today, doing boundary for RPH, and it seemed to be a really healthy, vocal crowd...

We all said it looked like 3.5 - 4K during the call today...

Jimmy wrote:On radio sounded like a good game...

Did you hear your shout-out from Chris Kendall, mate?

Big Phil wrote:

zipzap wrote:Thanks Phil, that surprises me a bit but good crowd

I was in and amongst the crowd today, doing boundary for RPH, and it seemed to be a really healthy, vocal crowd...

We all said it looked like 3.5 - 4K during the call today...

I was with a couple of mates and we said about 3500, great day for footy and a good game as well

Great crowd for Unley so must of been a good game.

Sounds like it was a great game between two attacking sides. Always admire that.
Well done Eagles, I'm sure Sturt will bounce back though.

Wedgie wrote:Sounds like it was a great game between two attacking sides. Always admire that.

x2. Footy's about kicking goals, not flooding.

Smallest 3500 I've ever seen.
Well done Eagles. First half set it up when we struggled to match up your talls up fwd and counter your pressure around the ball. If we had've kicked straight we may have won.
Coad is showing himself to be a great leader.
Good game all in all.

First qtr I thought Sturt moved the ball cleaner than the Eags, but the Second Qtr won the game for the eagles. Sturt missed their opportunities while the eagles hit Ainger and Wundke who in turn kicked them. They also cut Kirkwood out the game and the double blues couldn’t stop Goldy or Powell getting their hands on the footy. Good game though thoroughly enjoyed it!

Big Phil wrote:

Jimmy wrote:On radio sounded like a good game...

Did you hear your shout-out from Chris Kendall, mate?

I did. It's always a good bet I'll be listening in. Cheers

CUTTERMAN wrote:Smallest 3500 I've ever seen.
Well done Eagles. First half set it up when we struggled to match up your talls up fwd and counter your pressure around the ball. If we had've kicked straight we may have won.
Coad is showing himself to be a great leader.
Good game all in all.

I hope your not suggesting figures are being manipulated to justify a major deciscion that's been made recently.

No organisation in the world would do that

I was surprised that Hinge was left at full-back for so long. He seems a bit too small to hold down the position and Wundke was the beneficiary. I would be interested to know Sturt supporter's thoughts. Is he the #1 full back for Sturt or is it that someone else is injured.

In the past I think James McLeay has held down that position but not sure whether he has retired? If not, he would have made a huge difference because I don't think Wundke would have got his goals so easily.