2013 Minor Round Summary - Sturt (7th)

Thanks Scott.

I don't know how you do it, but these stats are appreciated.

One would hope the coaches make use of them too as they paint a serious picture on each club if you care to analyse them.

Yes I'm a stats tragic too. As an old accountant, it's probably in my DNA. What jumps out at me from those figures, is that we were heavily dependent on a small number of individuals. Kane, Coad, Hurley, Greenslade and Tambling are in nearly every category. Not enough regular contributions from many of the others. A bit from Page and McIntyre. But overall it's easy to see why we didn't finish any higher than 7th.

2013 Ladder position: 7th (7-13)

2013 Form Line: LWLLLBLLLWWLBLWLWLWBWLL

What went right: Beating top five sides the Eagles (twice) and North.

What went wrong: Their horror start to the season, only winning one of their first eight matches

Summary: Sturt had a disastrous start to their season, winning just one of their first eight matches.  From there, finals were pretty much out of the question, and they were facing the prospect of their third consecutive wooden spoon.

To Sturt’s credit, they didn’t give up, and for the rest of the season they split their results 6-6.  These included wins over Grand Finalists North Adelaide and two wins over the Eagles to salvage some pride out of a disappointing season.  On a brighter note, both their Reserves and Under 18’s did see some finals action (albeit for one week) to further show it’s not all doom and gloom at Unley.

While Sturt are have started to climb slowly up the ladder, they face a new challenge in losing six players to the AFL Reserves sides.  With their problematic off field situation impacting on the club’s recruiting ability, it may be tough to replace these players, and even if they do promote from the Reserves and under 18’s, that will have an effect on these sides.

Sturt are at a crossroads, and are facing a couple of challenges.  Time will tell if they will respond well and potentially make finals next year, or return to the foot of the ladder.

What I did wonder is why the AFC would not give Tambling a game, I have seen many players have bad form in the SANFL such as Porplezia, yet get picked without any problems and play well, Tambling made it to the best players pretty much every week for Sturt but could not get a look in. I do wonder if he will go into the draft, stay at Sturt or look at his options interstate in 2014?

I agree (but not complaining).

Another AFL import to have given the Blues excellent service.