Round 3 - Roosters KO'd by Blues

The clash between our Mighty Roosters and Sturt on Saturday was billed as a HEAVY WEIGHT CLASH by The Footy Budget. “THE RUMBLE AT MENZIES CRES.” so to speak! The only change from Thursday’s announced line-up was the inclusion of Damon White. In the opening exchanges of the first stanza, O’Brien had two opportunities to nail the first. He missed both. Moments later we sent it forward again. Alleway was held and received the free. The umpy paid the advantage as Stewart goaled from close range. Sturt replied with a goal to former Crow and Rooster, Ian Perrie. The pace was frantic out there! out of a stoppage, Younie delivered a nice pass to Alleway. This time Allers went back and slotted it himself. Sturt replied quickly once again. The tit-for-tat nature of the game continued when Sporn and Ladhams combined out of a stoppage to find Younie. The Unit marked , played on and drilled it. Sturt finished the entertaining first term with 2 goals. Going into the first huddle North trailed, 3-2-20 to 4-5-29.

Early in the second Stanza our defence held firm. Ladhams was in the thick of the action again. His pass found Alleway. The big man marked and goaled. A sublime run out of defence by North Adelaide minutes later was not capitilised upon. This was to prove costly as Sturt banged on three consecutive goals. The sequence was snapped when Wintle and Ladhams linked up to find Mcintyre who booted our 5th goal. Sturt’s control of the term returned when ex-Rooster Tristan Gum snapped a lovely goal. The signs were not good as Sturt rounded out the stanza with another 3 goals. At the long break we’d fallen 43 points behind, 5-3-33 to 11-10-76.

In The Premiership Quarter, a big effort was required to get back in the game. Our endeavour was there , but the goals weren’t. We were finally rewarded when Ladhams, O’Brien and Younie combined to put it on to Stewart. He marked and goaled. Moments later, Wintle and Lonie combined  through the middle to get it to Alleway. The hard working Allers booted his 3rd to reduce the deficit to 29 points. Further positive intent was shown by the Roosters, but wasn’t transferred to the scoreboard. Tarquin Brown affected a courageous spoil at Half-back! Despite all this hard graft, Sturt booted the last 3 goals of the quarter to wipe out any of our gains. Scores at Lemon-time, North 7-7-49 to Sturt 14-11-95.

In the last term, we made an attractive run from defence again, initiated by Schubert. However , no major came from it. Sturt then well and truly put the game to bed (if it wasn’t tucked- in already), with its 15th goal. The Roosters kept on- O,Brien and Motlop were involved in getting it to the goal square. Younie took the crumbs and booted his second. The Double Blues capped off an indecisive and disappointing day for North Adelaide with a further 2 goals. Big Brant Chambers a nuisance to the last! We must pick ourselves up from the canvas, take a standing 8 count and front up for round 4. Waiting at Alberton next week will be ex-Rooster Daniel Hargraves, who kicked a bag of 10 goals at Woodville oval on Saturday.

Kym Chaplain
Match Reporter
April 2008