SANFL Coaches Report

Match Report – Round 1 SANFL: West Adelaide FC vs Adelaide FC

West 4.7.31
Adelaide 18.18.126

It was always going to be a tough assignment for us in Round 1 against Adelaide FC, and unfortunately, we couldn’t consistently challenge them both offensively or defensively. We knew we’d be facing a side stacked with talent, having 19 players with AFL experience, but we came into the game focused on executing our game plan, competing strongly, and testing ourselves against a quality opponent.

Our focus was clear from the outset: to be strong in the contest for four quarters and at times look to control the speed of play by possessing the ball when the opportunities arose – we didn’t want to get caught in a transition style of game against a fit and highly skilled Adelaide outfit.

Unfortunately though we let ourselves down with our fundamentals, both through forced and unforced errors, and we couldn’t execute when we attempted to change the flow of the game; something we will continue to work on.

Despite our strong competition, I was pleased with how our boys committed to the contest, particularly at stoppages where we won clearance numbers (+4). This was a positive given Adelaide’s personnel around the ball and the fact we finished the game minus-41 in hit outs. Although we were significantly outplayed both offensively and defensively, one thing I can say for sure is that our players competed as best we could until the final siren, ultimately though, we couldn’t challenge Adelaide offensively or go with them on defensive transition. Their speed and efficiency moving the ball from one end to the other was hard to contain.

A highlight on the day was the introduction of 7 debutants for our club, with 5 of them playing at league level for the first time. It’s always exciting to see new faces step up, and while it was a challenging environment, the experience will serve our boys well moving forward.
Looking ahead, we understand the areas we need to improve on and will take invaluable learnings from Adelaide about what is required to compete and execute at this level consistently. This is just Round 1, and we must now focus on rebounding strongly for our upcoming match against South Adelaide. We need to show a significantly improved performance and ensure we execute better in all phases of the game.

We’ll go back to work this week, work hard on our fundamentals, and make sure we’re ready to take it up to South Adelaide with a focus on being a more consistent Team in all phases of the game.

Best Players:
Kobe Ryan, Sam Frost, Tom Morrish

Goals
Dylan McCormick 1.1
Tom Scully, Lachlan Squire, Jordan White

Our 7 debutants
Tom Scully, Sam Burbridge, Riley Hill
Oscar Talbot, Jonti Schuback, Joel Parker and Adam Bunworth

Adam Hartlett
Men’s Senior Coach