Double blues to beat the bloods in nail-biter at Richmond
By Jayden Hill

Well, its Round 10 of the SANFL season this weekend and after last weekend’s super Saturday of SANFL footy, the ladder is taking shape. This week its sixth vs seventh with the Bloods hosting the double blues, in what is set to be a nail biter of a game, with both teams looking to end their season with a high and get as many wins as possible. 

West Adelaide are unfortunately coming off a 22-point loss to the bottom placed Central Districts who gathered their first win for the year. Saturday’s loss marked five straight losses for the Bloods, who have experienced a tough season, but there have been some promising signs for them. They battled and stuck with the Roosters all game in round eight and lead at three quarter time, beating them in the disposal and mark categories, but unfortunately could not get the job done. Last Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs was a similar contest too, with only a few points separating the two teams all game. Unfortunately, for the Bloods, the Dogs ran away winners in the end. The Bloods have been in the contest in every game at stages and are hoping to record there second win for the year this weekend! Jordan Boyle has had a solid season for the Bloods this year, averaging 25.1 touches for the year and gathering 54 touches in the last fortnight. Brett Turner has had a good year also, featuring in the West’s best players six out of the first nine games. Elliot Dunkin had a great game last weekend, gathering 31 disposals with 93% efficiency.

The Bloods have outscored their opposition in first quarters in the last two games which has been a real positive. This is a real stamping point for the Bloods coach Gavin Colville ahead of the game this weekend, as the Double blues have struggled to hit the scoreboard in first quarters in the last month. 

The Double Blues as mentioned are struggling to start the games with scoring early goals and only average a score of 3.5 in first quarters in the last month. They will be hoping to match the bloods in the first quarter this week. After a good win against the Bulldogs in round eight the Double Blues unfortunately couldn’t make it two wins in a row, going down to a class outfit in the Eagles on Saturday afternoon. Sturt who sit sixth on the ladder, will have to keep on winning in the coming weeks, if they are any chance of featuring in finals action. Despite the loss on Saturday, skipper James Battersby just keeps collecting the ball week in, week out, gathering 29 disposals last Saturday and a game high 13 clearances. Battersby is a clearances king, recording a league high 90 clearances for the season. Helping Battersby clear the footy from stoppages has been Daniel Fahey-Sparks who is third in the league for hit outs and has helped Sturt win the hit outs count in the last two weeks. The Double blues have been playing good Football at stages and have looked damaging at times, winning the disposal and marking count regularly.

I am really looking forward to this game of Football on Friday night at Richmond Oval. Last time it was a nail-biter of a Friday night game at Hisense Stadium and I’m not expecting anything different this time around. Sturt won by eight points last time against the Bloods in a tight contest and this one could also go either way!

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