Round 9 of the SANFL season kicked off on Friday night when West Adelaide was well beaten by Norwood under lights. Saturday saw three games underway simultaneously as the Magpies had a strong win over the Panthers, and the Eagles defeated the Tigers. Central District continued their strong form by running out narrow winners against North Adelaide.

Sturt had the bye this week, and were not involved in the Foxtel Cup.

SANFL Player of the Week
Daniel Stewart (for Roosters vs Bulldogs)
After being dropped from the Power side and not having a game the week prior, Daniel’s game this week was a real stand-out performance. He played primarily in the ruck, with a bit of time forward, but he was mostly starting in the centre square because he was performing at such a strong level there and around the ground. He was really competitive in the contests, which is something he’s really been working on with his ruckwork, but then he just roamed the ground, picking up 19 possessions, 9 marks, laid 3 tackles, and kicked 2 goals 1 - his intensity and his workrate was really impressive, with North Adelaide very impressed by his performance this week.

Ben Newton (for Bloods reserves vs Redlegs)
Ben played on-ball in the first half and showed some real promise, picking up 19 disposals and kicked a goal. He really imposed himself on the game and was an excellent user of the ball. Unfortunately he got a bit sore in his groins after half-time and struggled to run, coming off at about the ten minute mark of the third term and not playing any further part in the game. He’ll probably have a week off now, but it’s really encouraging that he’s increasing his possession count and playing some very, very good football.

Matt Lobbe (for Bloods reserves vs Redlegs)
Matt got dropped to the reserves and also managed to really showcase his attributes whilst playing in the ruck. He picked up a season-high 24 disposals, took 7 or so marks and had 30 odd hit-outs in a strong performance. You could say that you’d expect that at SANFL reserves level, but at the same time it’s great that he’s taken his demotion in his stride and really come out onto the ground with a positive attitude and been a real presence in the game.

Marlon Motlop (for Bloods vs Redlegs)
Marlon played half-forward in a team that was getting really well beaten and was unable to have an impact upon the game, picking up 5 touches. He looked sharp enough but Marlon needs to make sure that he stays involved in the game - even in a side that’s struggling he needs to make sure that he can find the footy.

Daniel Webb (for Bloods vs Redlegs)
Playing deep forward in a side that’s losing by a handy margin is a tough ask, and as such there was a real dearth of forward 50 entries for Wests that Webb could capitalise upon. He took one really nice mark and kicked a goal but had limited impact upon the night.

Tom Jonas (for Redlegs vs Bloods)
Tom was very good, playing a run-with role with James Ezard in the first half, keeping Ezard to three touches in the first half. Tommy ended up with 21 himself and 7 tackles to accompany a fair few clearances, and some of his tough stuff which we’re asking of our group at senior level was really great to see.

Aaron Young (for Roosters vs Bulldogs)
This was Youngie’s first run at senior SANFL level, which was really exciting to see. He had around 8 possessions in 60% game time, kicked a goal and took a really nice mark. He certainly showed that he’s not out of his depth at senior level, so hopefully he’ll get another opportunity to showcase his wares this week.

Daniel Bass (for Panthers reserves vs Magpies)
It wasn’t a bad game by Bass this week following his place as the second ruckman for the seniors being usurped by a more experienced teammate. He had 16 possessions and was really strong in the ruck, but his second efforts need to improve to try and force himself back into the league side. He got around the ground well and that’s a real key area of development for him, so it was good to see that. He’s had a great week on the track so he’ll be looking forward to playing against Glenelg in Round 10.

Brett Ebert (for Magpies vs Panthers)
Ebo played on the ball and changing forward to provide a target up front as well. He worked hard and had enough of the footy to be influential, and whilst he fumbled in the initial stages of the match he improved as the game went on, and was definitely one of the important players for Port as they worked towards their win.

Mitch Banner (for Magpies vs Panthers)
Mitch worked hard in and around the footy, getting a couple of really good hard ball gets. Defensively we’re still looking for him to lay some big tackles and pick up a man defensively, but overall Mitch was solid again, and was another important contributor in the win.

John Butcher (for Magpies vs Panthers)
Despite the Magpies being on top and running out convincing winners, Butch had limited opportunities - he got to a lot of marking contests but wasn’t quite able to clutch some grabs within big contests amongst a number of players. We were happy that he got to as many contests as he did - twenty, thirty contests - but in the end he didn’t have a lot of impact on the scoreboard. We’re working on his running without the ball and how he gets a split on his opponent.

Jacob Surjan (for Magpies vs Panthers)
Surj was a real spark early - he was right in amongst the action and hard at the body, hard at the footy, and showcased some impressive skills by foot. Again, the defensive side of the game is his main focus of improvement and he’s doing a lot of work in that area to improve his game.

Danny Meyer (for Tigers reserves vs Eagles)
Danny finished with around 26, 28 possessions and was increasingly influential on the play as the game went on. He kicked a very nice goal from the boundary, and also showcased his impressive natural skills around the ground. It was good to get a full game under his belt after a few unlucky injuries, but to get a full game allows him to push for senior selection at Glenelg.

Chad Cornes (for Tigers vs Eagles)
Chad was a little bit down early, and there wasn’t a lot of delivery through to him. He came good and Glenelg finished the game off really well, with Glenelg kicking through him and he had a number of possessions in the last quarter.

Steve Salopek (for Tigers vs Eagles)
Sal was solid - he’s really worked on a number of parts of his game, most particularly his in-close work and we’re starting to see the rewards come through from that. We know just want Sal to come through and play his natural running game and use his natural running ability to get spread and rack up possessions.

Previous SANFL Reports
SANFL Wrap - Round 8
SANFL Wrap - Round 7
SANFL Wrap - Round 6
SANFL Wrap - Round 5
SANFL Wrap - Round 4
SANFL Wrap - Round 3
SANFL Wrap - Round
SANFL Wrap - Round 1