ROUND 6 of the SANFL season saw a number of Power players performing at both senior league and reserves level.

This week, Norwood had the bye, with traditional Saturday afternoon football returning to local footy, with four games held at the exact same time.

West Adelaide bounced back from last week’s defeat to handsomely knock off South Adelaide, while the Magpies fell to the Eagles. Glenelg got home at home in a tight one against North Adelaide, while Central District continued their winning ways by comfortably beating Sturt.

All games were watched closely by development manager Daniel Healy and development coach Matthew Nicks. Their full report is below, but make sure you watch the video report to see some highlights footage of Aaron Young, the ‘Player of the Week’ this week, and what it is that Heals and Nicksy are looking for from the players each week.

SANFL Player of the Week
Aaron Young (for Roosters reserves vs Tigers)
He was terrific - he picked up 28 possessions and kicked 2 goals 2, and the defensive side of his game was fantastic too. We’ve been working on him staying in the game for longer periods and not having patches where he’s not involved, and he did exactly that, really staying involved in the play for a full four quarters and - despite this only being reserve level football - he was a stand-out of the Power players plying their trade in the SANFL this week and was a clear Player of the Week in the SANFL for Round 6.

Andrew Moore (for Roosters reserves vs Tigers)
Andrew played on-ball again and had his best game for the year after being dropped to the lower level. He had 25 possessions and kicked 4 goals, and showed some really good competitive determination late in the game, which was really pleasing - it was a very good effort from him to come back from the disappointment of being demoted to the reserves level to stamp his class upon the contest.

Danny Meyer (for Tigers reserves vs Roosters)
This was Danny’s first game back in the SANFL following a little bit of time off with a neck complaint. He had 20 possessions and got through the game well, including taking a very spectacular mark.

Chad Cornes (for Tigers vs Roosters)
Chad played up forward and then on-ball in the second half and was instrumental in Glenelg coming back from a long way down to get up in a tight one at home. He had 19 possessions in the second half when he was playing in the midfield to finish with 28 in total, and it was pretty good performance.

Steve Salopek (for Tigers vs Roosters)
Sal was pretty solid in a game in which he featured in a variety of positions, including on the wing, on-ball as well as spending some time as a forward. He finished the game with 22 possessions and took 7 marks, picking up a lot of uncontested ball and his hard-running to position was a feature of his game.

Marlon Motlop (for Bloods reserves vs Panthers)
Marlon started on the half-back flank, and coming into a new club he’s really trying to fit into the group, and playing across half-back is the perfect position to do that. He ended up with 19 possessions and is really improving week-to-week - it no doubt hurt him having a few weeks off while he transferred sides as far as his match fitness goes, but he’s getting that back quickly. He had a really strong influence upon the game and at reserves level we expect him to perform well so it’s good to see him continuing to improve as he settles in at Wests.

Ben Newton (for Bloods reserves vs Panthers)
This was Ben’s second game since joining the club in last year’s draft - it’s actually his second game in about 7 months due to injury. He’s worked really hard in terms of running and now obviously the key is to get match fitness and get back into the swing of things. He showed some real poise and some real smarts in this game, and some very skilful work. He got tired reasonably quickly, as you’d expect with only two games under his belt, but he’ll continue to improve and we look forward to seeing him doing that over the next couple of weeks.

Daniel Bass (for Panthers reserves vs Bloods)
Bassy started in the ruck and also spent some time down forward - his ruck work was fantastic with his tap-work around the stoppages particularly impressive as he’s a very strong lad and he was able to use that strength to advantage. His second efforts were also exemplary; the key to his continuing development is to work on his positioning around the ground and getting more football, getting more involved in the play, but for Bass this was a pretty solid game.

Jason Davenport (for Bloods vs Panthers)
Dav had a really good game - he didn’t shoot the lights out in that there wasn’t anything flashy about his performance, but everything that we’ve been working on with him in terms of hitting the ball, getting his body in line with the ball and getting tough ball inside was on show throughout this game. It’s what we’ve been working on with him and the comments from his coaches after the game was that this was one of his best games for Wests.

Matthew Lobbe (for Bloods vs Panthers)
Instead of his customary position in the ruck, Lobbe was thrown a real challenge this week and lined up at centre half forward. He got to plenty of contests and worked really hard - he’s got a really good engine and he got around the ground well. He’s probably just a bit out of touch as far as his marking goes, and he’s not taking the grabs that he’d like to, but that mostly comes down to missing such a chunk of football with quite a serious shoulder injury. More game time will see him continuing to improve over the next few weeks.

Daniel Webb (for Bloods vs Panthers)
Webb had one of his best games this season, kicking 5 goals 2 in a winning side. He was really part of the push to hit the front and get on top of Souths - he was a powerhouse up forward, crashing packs and going for his marks, which is something that we’ve been working on with him individually and his intensity for the game was right up there where it needs to be. The key for Webby now is consistency; we need that sort of effort on a week-to-week basis rather than just a sign here and there, but it was great to see him play well.

John Butcher (for Magpies vs Eagles)
John had a quieter game - he had 10 possessions and took 4 marks whilst kicking 1 goal 1 and creating a couple of other goals for his teammates.

Ben Jacobs (for Magpies vs Eagles)
Ben continued his strong start to his career as an AFL-listed player by putting in another solid performance since overcoming glandular fever in his first AFL preseason. He picked up 30 possessions whilst playing on the wing and across half-back, including 13 in the third quarter alone when he was instrumental in the Magpies getting back in the game after they were well down early.

Mitch Banner (for Magpies vs Eagles)
It was another solid and dependable performance by Mitch for the Magpies. He picked up 22 possessions and kicked 1 goal 1, and he continues to be a very good player at SANFL level.

Jacob Surjan (for Magpies vs Eagles)
Surj played on a wing and across half-back and he is continuing to work on his defensive positioning as well as getting a fair bit of the ball, picking up 23 touches. He linked up well and he just needs to continue working on his defensive aspects to deny his direct opponent the opportunity to score possessions against him.

Jarrad Irons (for Eagles reserves vs Magpies)
Playing on a wing, Irons picked up 23 possessions and had a solid game - similar to Aaron Young, the key to his development now is to continue to work on staying involved in the game for a full four quarters and really influencing the play for the full game. He did that reasonably well, and he’s improving each week.

Mitch Curnow (for Double Blues reserves vs Bulldogs)
One of the things that we’ve really been working with Mitch whilst he’s playing in the SANFL reserves in his ability to get to more contests around the ground and have an impact in the air on the play, and he certainly did that this week. He’s continuing to work on his ruckwork and he’s making some real ground in that area. He picked up 11 possessions and had a fairly pleasing game.

Matt Westhoff (for Bulldogs vs Double Blues)
Matt had a pretty quiet day as a result of an injury, picking up four kicks and booting a goal before he hurt himself in the third quarter in an injury that will likely see him missing a little bit of football over the next little while.

Previous SANFL Reports
SANFL Wrap - Round 5
SANFL Wrap - Round 4
SANFL Wrap - Round 3
SANFL Wrap - Round
SANFL Wrap - Round 1