Under-18s Match Report

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Round 5 - Peter Motley Oval - 28/04/18

Goals: Colwell 3, Sladojevic, Tarca 2, Tucker, Renney, Fitzgerald, Sampson, Freitag
Best: Sampson, Tucker, Juckers, Sparrow, Douglass, Manuel

South Adelaide's Under 18's remain on top of the ladder and undefeated thanks to a fifth straight win this weekend, taking down Sturt 12.11 (83) to 9.12 (66) at Peter Motley Oval.

In good conditions we travelled to Peter Motley Oval this week to play Sturt in our fourth away game for the year.

After Sturt missed some early opportunities we were able to kick a couple of goals through Sladojevic and Tarca before Sturt hit back with two of their own.

The momentum swung backwards and forwards but when Sladojevic kicked his second for the quarter and Sampson, Davies and Colwell getting their hands on the ball it was good signs to have a seven point lead going into quarter time.

After the break, Sturt kicked the first two goals to take the lead. We went goal for goal to keep the scores level until the last six minutes where we were able to kick two in a row through Renney and Colwell and take a 10 point advantage at halftime.

We have usually won most of our third quarters this year, and I think we were expecting to do the same on Saturday, but good sides like Sturt will come out after halftime and lift, which they did.

Luckily for us they missed some shots you would expect them to kick, managing 2.4 to our 1.2. This brought the three-quarter time score to Sturt 54, South 56. We clung to a two point lead going into the last.

In the last quarter Sturt came out the fastest, kicking the first to take the lead before we traded goals once again to have four lead changes across the quarter.

Eventually we were able to kick consecutive goals through Sampson, Tucker and a last goal to Tarca putting us 16 points up with four and a half minutes to play.

All the coaches and support staff were really proud of the players and they way the were able to overcome being challenged in the last quarter and still have the belief to grind out another win.

Hayden Sampson and Tyler Davies were good around stoppage, Danny Juckers and Aaron Douglass were solid down back and Job Colwell is starting to find some form in the forward line.

This week we lose six players to school football in Daniel Sladojevic, Tom Sparrow, James Grimley and Jack Fitzgerald out of the team from the weekend's game as well as Jordan Bastian and Marcus Lippett. We wish them all the best until they return later in the year, but on the flip side this will open up spots and give others an opportunity to play.

This week we travel away again to natural ground at Richmond Oval to play Central District, who after winning their first three games have lost their last two, so I would expect that they are wanting to get back in the winners circle.

Mark Clayton
U18s Head Coach

Under-16s Match Report

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Round 7 - Peter Motley Oval - 28/04/18

Goals: Spicer, Dumesny 3, Hindes, Rogerson, Roberts, Horne, Norman-Brown
Best: Horne, Dumesny, Kraemer, Roberts, Spicer, Clifton

South Adelaide's Under-16s have claimed a finals berth thanks to a 11.14 (80) to 5.9 (39) win over Sturt at Unley on Saturday afternoon.

Going into this week's game against Sturt we knew it was a must win if we wanted to play finals. We also need Glenelg to beat Centrals, with fortunately they did.

The focus before the game was all about our pressure and taking the game on. To the players credit they did both of these really well and dominated the first quarter. We went into the first break with a 5.5 to 1.1 buffer thanks to our 17 inside 50s to Sturt's two.

The second quarter was much the same as the midfield lead by Horne, Kraemer and Roberts controlled the ball, while our backline held firm only allowing Sturt one goal to our 4.5.

We went into halftime with a comfortable 9.10 (64) to 2.1 (13) lead.

In the second half the intensity of the game fell away and only five more goals were kicked for the game and we enjoyed a pretty easy win in the end.

It has been a very spirited three weeks, winning three straight and beating two sides above us on the ladder. 

The players should have great confidence going into this week's final against Norwood at the Parade on Wednesday night (7:30pm start).

Clay Sampson
U16s Head Coach

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