Under 18s Report

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Round 2 - Hahndorf Oval - 13/04/17

Goals: Fitt 4, Colwell, Tucker, Wilkinson 2, McGree, Sparrow, Robertson, Whitbread
Best: Whitbread, Beenham, Fitt, Kreuger, Wilkinson, Irra

South Adelaide's Under 18s continued their winning start to 2017 with a six-point win over Sturt at Hahndorf Oval on Thursday night.

The team welcomed two new faces in Round 2 after Jackson Elmes (calf) and Reece Milsom (minor knee complaint) were forced to the sidelines due to injury. Lining up for the first time in 2017 were Nathan Kreuger, who settled into the team's back six, and Cameron McGree, who played a ruck and key forward role.

It was Cam's first game at this level and he showed he was ready for this standard with a solid performance all night, taking some great marks in slippery conditions.

The first quarter was the best all night, with our players hitting Sturt with great physicality and following some pre-game plans very well.

The second quarter was an equally physical affair, with both sides cracking in hard. It quickly became a bash and crash slog in and around the ball, with both teams simply trying to get the ball going forward any way possible.

After halftime Sturt really lifted their intensity and work rate at the stoppages and when the ball was in dispute and they rightfully gained control of the game for most of the third quarter.

The last quarter was a good old fashion contested game of footy, with scoring becoming harder and harder.

Sturt had the majority of play inside their forward half and put our backs under some real pressure.

Some of our players were really feeling the pinch after a five day turnaround and had to dig deep to stay in the game and run out the last quarter. To the credit of all our players, in particular our leaders, they held on in a tense last five minutes that saw Sturt come as close as five points and gutted out the win.

Our best performer on the day was Sam Whitbread, who finished the game with 22 touches, nine tackles and a goal.

Nathan Beenham (21 possessions) also found plenty of the ball, while Liam Fitt was our most prolific forward, finishing with four goals.

Nathan Kreuger (15 touches) fit well into our backline in his first game of the season, while Eamon Wilkinson (16 disposals and two goals) and Robert Irra (12 touches and five tackles) also played well.

It was a great win by the team and a real confidence booster going into another big game this week against Glenelg this Saturday, April 22 from 2:10pm at Gliderol Stadium.

Tony Bamford
Under 18s Head Coach

Under 16s Report

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Round 4 - Hahndorf Oval - 13/04/17

Goals: Freitag, Fitzgerald
Best: Short, Sladojevic, Fitzgerald, Lippett, Coulthard

After a disappointing result the week before we were hopeful the boys could bounce back against Sturt on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Our pressure early was very good and it look as though we had turned up ready to play. However, before we knew it Sturt slotted three quick goals and the boys went into their shells and were not prepared to take the game on.

In the second half we went man on man and to the players credit we were much more competitive.

Sturt were very clean on the night and always had us under pressure when we had the ball, which created turnovers that they capitalized on.

Our best player was Mackenzie Short in his best game so far this season. He played down back and showed very good composure with the ball and used it very well coming out of the backline.

Our captain, Daniel Sladojevic found it tough early, with a lack of opportunities up forward. However, he lead by example and competed really hard in the ruck and used his size very well.

A consistent performer on the night, Jack Fitzgerald played in multiple positions to fill holes for us, while Marcus Lippett worked really hard in tight, won a lot of hard ball gets and brought his teammates into the game.

Matt Coulthard had another good game, showing clean hands and used the ball very well.

This week we take on Glenelg and we will have a number of guys that will get an opportunity that we have not seen yet.

We will work hard on the track this week and will remain positive and continue to improve in some areas.

Clay Sampson
Under 16s Head Coach