ROUND 5
Sunday 28/4/02

Sturt 2.2 12.4 16.5 19.13 (127)
Glenelg 0.1 0.2 5.5 8.7 (55)

Sturt shows worth as rival to Bulldogs.

The SANFL competition is split into two distinct groups with Sturt joining Central District as a cut above the rest after humiliating Glenelg with a stunning 72-point thrashing at Unley Oval yesterday.
Glenelg kicked just 0.2 in the first half in an unacceptably pathetic under effort which solemn coach Brenton Honor dubbed as "crap" and the worst half of football he had seen. To rub injury into insult ruckman Brad Smith suffered a suspected torn cruciate ligament in his right knee and might require a knee reconstruction.
Sturt had complete control all day and honed its own stunning brand of run-on team football even though first choice veterans Bruce Lennon (knee), Seamus Malony (groin), Simon Feast (knee), Matthew dent (broken thumb) and Barnaby French (Power) sat out what turned out to be an amazing mis-match.
Sturt delighted a large crowd of 4441 - collecting 346 possessions to Glenelg's modest 194 despite easing up late and resting several players in the final term.
After a strange fumbly first term when Glenelg at least kept body pressure on opponents, the Blues dominated mainly through emerging wingman Danny Wicks, dynamite Dean Woosman, Toby Thurstans, under-rated Matt Powel, Tim Weatherald, Brodie Atkinson and match winner Stephen White at full forward, The lumbering big man kicked 6.2 from 14 possessions and had more of the ball than 16 Glenelg players, despite sitting out most of the last quarter.
White's task was made relatively simple because of the ridiculous ease with which Sturt's runners streamed through the midfield. Rarely did Glenelg lay a hand on the Blues, who now look with anticipation to a shootout with the also unbeaten Bulldogs at Elizabeth, this week.
"we were heavily focused on giving Glenelg a fair bit of respect and not just going through the motions," coach Brenton Phillips said. "I was a bit concerned that we'd be coming off a six-day break next week to a nine-day break so I had to hold back a few people." Phillips is unlikely to regain those who missed yesterday but there might be some subtle changes for the spacious NAP Oval and the Dog's armoury of runners.
"There's a few things we'll discuss at selection, but we'll play them on our terms," he said. "We're going out there to play another opposition and we certainly don't see them as unbeatable."
Honor tore strips off each Tigers player for more than 30 minutes after the debacle, putting all on notice that their positions in the side were in jeopardy.
He refused to give credit for Glenelg's 8.5 to 7.9 second half when the Tigers statistics showed they had more centre and pack clearances than Sturt because, he said, there was nothing to like about Glenelg's performance.
"it was the weakest and most insipid effort I've ever seen from a group of players," he said.
"We came really confident and gave ourselves a real chance.
"We can't just forget it. I'm going to stick with this group and give them opportunities but they have to repay the faith. I'll know at 5pm next week after playing Port just what effect this embarrassment, this crap they served up today, had on them.
"If they serve up the same next week that will mean there's a huge question mark over every one of their heads on what it means to them to play for Glenelg."

BEST PLAYERS: Koster, Byrne, O'Brien.
SCORERS: handby 2.2, Bell 2.0, logan 1.1, Greenwood, Cook, Irvin 1.0, McKenzie 0.2, Byrne, Willet 0.1.
INJURIES: Smith (knee).
CROWD: 4441.