West Adelaide continued its progression as one of the Hostplus SANFL League’s big improvers, shutting out North Adelaide by 29 points at Hisense Stadium.
The Bloods’ midfield stood tall when it mattered while their backline was simply supreme, holding the Roosters goalless from the 16th minute mark of the second quarter onwards.
Attacking defenders Callum Park and Tom Morrish combined for 52 disposals and 19 rebound-50s, full back Josh Ryan snared 14 marks among his 19 touches, and regular backman Sam Frost floated forward to boot the first three goals of his young career.
Meanwhile, Joel Stevens (27 disposals, seven clearances), Michael Mattingly (20 touches, 11 tackles, one goal) and Josh Ryan (20 possessions, eight tackles) expertly fed off the ruck dominance of brawny Dylan Bramich (17 possessions, 27 hit-outs, six tackles).
North opened with two goals in the first two minutes and dominated the clearances 11-4 in the first term as West took a while to warm to the task.
Acting Bloods captain Isaac Johnson got the home side on the board in style, blazing successfully from beyond 50m.
Johnson’s effort kickstarted a string of three straight majors for the hosts, who trailed by one point at quarter-time.
Roosters livewire Keanu Miller outdid Johnson with an even better goal, bombing a 60m beauty to the southern end in the second stanza.
When Keenan Ramsey goaled in the 16th minute of that quarter and with prime mover Harrison Wigg (20 of his 28 disposals coming before half-time) finding plenty of the ball and Campbell Combe (35 touches, eight tackles, seven clearances) influential in the clinches, North was up by two points and ready to inflict some damage.
But West wasn’t willing to accept it.
Teenage goalsneak Dylan McCormack slotted two majors in the space of a minute to give the Bloods a 10-point buffer at half-time.
Frost bobbed up for two majors in the third term as the hard-running home side moved ahead by a commanding 30 points at the last change, the Roosters becoming stagnant and indecisive.
The fourth term was a defensive, goalless grind, which suited West just fine.
North had 13-6 inside-50s for the term, only to be denied time and time again by some elite defending from the Bloods.