SAFC Newsletter – FEBRUARY 2026

 A Grade Report 

Since the last report a month ago we have now completed a full round of games with the A Grade team sitting in 4th position with 2 wins and 3 losses. We managed to string 2 wins together vs Lions and Centrals in rounds 2 & 3 which resulted in a great atmosphere at the club over those 2 rounds. We have been on the SGLs version of a world tour in the 1st round of games as we have played at every oval so far in 5 rounds. It will be nice to get some consistent games at Central Oval over the next spread of games. The Lions victory was impressive as we trialled for majority of the day, but we were able to storm over the top and win by a goal in the second half. 

The victory against Centrals at ETSA was probably harder fought than it needed to be as we dominated the game early with our pressure and hunt at the ball carrier, something we haven’t produced for some time. Kicking 1.5 in the first quarter into the wind kept the game closer than it should have been. Our 3rd qtr we allowed them back into the game but still managed to kick a couple of crucial goals into the wind. We were always in the driver’s seat kicking with a strong breeze in the last quarter after doing the hard work early. Our 2 losses have come in back-to-back weeks recently. Our lost to West in the twilight game was disappointing as we only put 20 minutes of dominant football together in which we score all our goals. The 3 goal margin at quarter time was the margin at the end but we played 10 mins of football after half time where we kicked 5 goals and got our noses in front. We unfortunately chased the game the whole night and couldn’t bridge the gap at the end. West have had the wood over us for a little while in recent times and that will need to turn around if we are to be competitive later on in the season. 

Our most recent game against Sollies was one of missed opportunity as I believed the reigning premiers were there for the taking. Inaccuracy in front of goals has cost us in the past month which is something we need to be better at. Similar to the week before we spent majority of the game chasing the play which has become a bit of a common theme. It would be nice change if we could start setting the pace in our games. Our Second half against Sollies resulted in 4.13 which is always going to be tough to win games with such inaccuracy. We need to keep promoting taking the basic, easy option in front of goal. At the moment we are not making the most of our chances, but we can not complain about the grit and fight in this team. We keep coming and that’s a nice trait to have. 

Our losses have all been around the 3-goal margin so far this year which means we are competitive against every team in the comp, something positive to take away from being 2-3 W/L We are currently running on fumes a little with the injuries starting to mount up, as we have had a handful of guys not play since round 1 due to injury with most likely to come back after the bye. Unfortunately, we have had up to 4-6 changes most weeks which makes consistency hard to achieve especially for a team with so many new faces. I must admit these guys play for each other and that will go a long way towards making a finals push when we can get everyone back on deck. 

My message to the playing group now is that we should be living with the mindset of knowing we can beat anyone we come up against. For the last 12-24 months I think we have arrived to games hoping this is the week we get a win. We should be past that thought process, as like I have said, we have been in every game we have played so far this season. We need to believe and know we are good enough to take anyone down on any given day. Adam Grantham—A Grade Coach