North Adelaide scored an upset win to remain in the finals hunt, Norwood moved a game clear on top of the ladder, while Adelaide's AFL-listed brigade lifted them to a big win over Glenelg.
Read all about it in this week's SANFL Wrap.
Port Adelaide 7.11.(53) def by Central District 12.6.(78)
Central District eventually worked past a gallant Port Adelaide outfit to claim a 25-point win that keeps them firmly entrenched in the top five.
The Bulldogs' superior polish and finishing in front of goal proved decisive, with the Magpies registering 11 more inside 50s and the same number of scoring shots as the visitors.
Coming in off a crushing loss against Norwood last week, the Magpies' effort could not be questioned, laying 98 tackles for the day and applying fierce pressure at the contest.
Centrals were unable to make use of a strong northerly breeze in the first term, failing to kick a goal and conceding one at the other end to trail by seven points at the first break.
The Bulldogs took full advantage of the breeze in the third term, slamming on 6.1 to 0.3 to take a 32-point lead into the final change.
Port made one last charge in the last, but it came too late as they were left to rue what could have been.
Harry Grant was pivotal through the middle once again with his cleanliness around stoppages, finishing with 20 disposals, six clearances and seven tackles.
Kade Ditmarr (10 tackles) and Mani Liddy (six clearances) were also important contributors.
Aiden Grace was a match-winner up forward, kicking three goals from 15 disposals in a typically dynamic display, while Hugo Munn (three goals) and Isaiah Dudley (two goals) were constant threats around goal.
Billy Iles found plenty of the footy across half-back, while Nick Lange spent the day in defence and finished with five rebound 50s.
Despite the loss, Port Adelaide had plenty of contributors that put their hand up for AFL consideration.
Dante Visentini made a statement with a dominant performance in the ruck, amassing 44 hitouts, 20 disposals, five clearances and a goal.
Jed McEntee responded well to his demotion from the AFL side, collecting 17 disposals and six clearances playing through the midfield.
Hugh Jackson (16 disposals and a goal) and Murphy Short (20 disposals, six clearances and a goal) battled hard throughout the day.
Francis Evans was lively in tallying 15 disposals and 2.3, while Tom Clurey, Xavier Walsh and Miller Carter were solid in defence against a strong Central District forward line.
North Adelaide 8.15.(63) def Woodville-West Torrens 6.4.(40)
North Adelaide overcame some errant goalkicking to secure a crucial 23-point win and keep their faint finals hopes alive.
Needing a win to stay in touch with the top five, the Roosters came out firing from the first bounce and humbled their more fancied opponents with their desperation and work rate.
Only woeful finishing in front of goal kept the visitors in the fight, with the Roosters dominating every aspect of the game except the scoreboard.
North had the game on their terms early, enjoying the first seven inside 50s but could only manage five behinds as they continued to blaze away with rushed shots at goal.
Woodville-West Torrens went forward and kicked two quick goals from limited opportunities to take the lead at quarter time.
The Eagles kicked the first goal of the second term and it looked like North would be left to pay a heavy price for their wastefulness, but found two quick goals to draw ahead.
The Roosters powered away after half-time with six goals to two and claimed their most impressive win of the season.
North's victory was built off the back of a superb midfield performance, winning clearances by 17 and inside 50s by 28 as they outmuscled their Eagles counterparts.
They clearly came in with a plan to play keepings-off and deny the Eagles the footy, working their way up the ground with short kicks, taking 96 marks for the day.
This allowed the Roosters' defence to set up behind the play and shut down the Eagles' counter-attacking football, keeping them to their lowest score of the season.
Campbell Combe was the chief architect in the midfield destruction, tallying an incredible 39 disposals, 13 clearances and 10 tackles.
Hughen Wissman (13 tackles) offered plenty of grunt at the stoppages, while Harrison Elbrow (16 disposals) provided plenty of spark.
Charlie Dinning tagged Eagles' maestro James Rowe and curbed his impact while also collecting 19 disposals of his own.
With Mitch Harvey spending more time in the ruck, Matthew McKenzie played largely a kick behind the play, taking eight marks as he pitched in on defence.
Sam McInerney (16 disposals and two goals) was busy inside 50, while Tariek Newchurch could have had a big day if not for inaccuracy, finishing with 1.3.
Dyson Hilder played an outstanding game on key forward Connor Ballenden, keeping the Eagles' big man to just one goal and one contested mark as he negated him in the aerial contests.
Frazer Driscoll was also impressive in shutting down Jack Wheare, defusing several one-on-one contests as the deepest defender.
Harrison Magor (30 disposals) and Blayne O'Loughlin (23 disposals) were important distributors across half back.
Eagles' ruckman Jarrad Redden could not have done any more, dominating the ruck battle to claim 50 hitouts and three clearances.
Josh Morris continued his rich vein of form to finish with a team-high 25 disposals and 10 rebound 50s.
Captain Joe Sinor battled valiantly through the midfield to amass 20 disposals and nine tackles, while Luke McKay was polished in kicking two goals from 14 disposals.
Sturt 10.10.(70) def West Adelaide 3.7.(25)
Sturt's all-conquering defence was again on show as they smothered West Adelaide into submission on their way to a 45-point win on Saturday.
The Double Blues held Westies to just three goals for the afternoon and the lowest score kicked by any team this season.
This is despite West Adelaide creating 42 inside 50s, demonstrating the strength of the Sturt defence at the moment, which is ranked first in the league across 12 rounds.
The contest was a dour struggle for much of the first half, with only six goals scored between the teams to half-time.
Sturt were able to open up the game after the main break, kicking six goals to one and the final three majors of the game to open up a significant buffer.
The Blues again applied tremendous pressure on the visitors, laying 104 tackles for the afternoon and restricting the Bloods to just 33 marks.
Sturt's midfield trio of Will Snelling (34 disposals and nine clearances), Tom Lewis (27 disposals and 13 tackles) and James Battersby (32 disposals and eight tackles) were simply too powerful at the coalface and consistently won first possession.
Daniel Fahey-Sparks took most of the ruck duties and was damaging with his ability to move around the ground, collecting 16 disposals, 28 hitouts and five clearances.
Steven Slimming played a quality game on the wing and negated his opposite number Isaac Johnson while also collecting 21 touches and seven inside 50s.
James Mathews had a quiet first half but grew into the contest to finish with three goals, while Oliver Girvell was a strong presence in attack with two majors and also pinch-hit in the ruck.
Will Coomblas was solid again in defence and locked away key forward Ned Stevens, as was emerging defender Zac Becker in shutting down Hamish Ellem.
Rory Illman kept Josh Gore to one goal, while Luke Edmunds curbed Riley Corbett's influence whenever the West Adelaide big man went forward.
As they did last week, Kobe Ryan (20 disposals and 16 tackles) and Sam Frost (23 disposals and 10 clearances) led the way for West Adelaide and took the challenge up to their Sturt counterparts.
Jesse Thackeray (17 disposals and five clearances) and Tom Morrish (six clearances and six tackles) battled hard throughout.
Callum Park (23 disposals and 11 rebound 50s) found plenty of the footy at half-back and also kept Sam Conforti largely in check.
With Josh Ryan a late out, Liam Delahunty was given the job on Lachie Burrows and stood up remarkably well, keeping Burrows to no score and just two marks.
Harvey Bock was also impressive in shutting down the dangerous Josh Hone and restricting him to just one goal, while Darcy Minchella and Will Patton also held up well in matchups with Oliver Grivell and Angus Anderson.
Dylan McCormick played a defensive forward role on lethal Sturt half-back Casey Voss, restricting the Fos Williams medallist to just 14 disposals in a disciplined display.
Glenelg 7.15.(57) def by Adelaide Crows 15.6.(96)
Strong performances from a host of AFL stars helped propel Adelaide to a 39-point win over Glenelg at the Bay on Saturday afternoon.
The clinical display helped push Adelaide up to eighth position and demonstrate just what they are capable of with a healthy list of AFL talent at their disposal.
Kicking with a strong breeze in the first term, Adelaide burst out of the blocks to lead by 29 points at quarter-time.
The Tigers wasted their chance to make inroads with the breeze at their back in the second term, kicking 1.6 while Adelaide snared two majors at the other end to maintain the buffer.
Adelaide put the foot down in the third quarter with another six goals, leading by as much as 62 points before Glenelg finally made their charge.
The hosts gave themselves a sniff with the first two goals of the last term, but inaccuracy again cost them, kicking 2.5 and letting Adelaide off the hook.
Adelaide were cleaner and more polished when it counted, moving the ball out of defence with fluency and speed to give their forwards prime scoring opportunities.
While the stoppage numbers remained largely even throughout the day, Adelaide's clearances were more damaging and often led to quality looks at goal.
Their defence also held up magnificently against Glenelg's powerful attack, giving the Tigers' forwards no time or space to work in.
Kieran Strachan responded to his AFL demotion with a best-on-ground performance, dominating the ruck duel against Riley McGree to finish with 41 hitouts and 18 disposals.
He also had a big influence around the ground, taking a game-high 11 marks, several of which were intercepts, as well as nine inside 50s.
Brodie Smith was another fantastic contributor off half-back, collecting a game-high 27 disposals and setting up many of Adeladie's attacking forays with his terrific foot skills.
Riley Thilthorpe made a successful return to football in his first game since injuring his knee in the pre-season, taking a pair of big contested marks and booting three goals before being managed in the last term.
Chris Burgess was another to impress up front, kicking three goals and taking nine marks as he soundly beat quality defender Chris Curran in the one-on-one duels.
Lachie Gollant kicked the game's first three goals and finished with four as he continued to lead up strongly at the kicker and possessed too much speed for Glenelg's Oscar Adams.
Oscar Ryan played arguably his best game at league level, playing a close-checking role on Luke Reynolds and holding him to nine disposals and two goals while collecting 20 touches and 10 rebound 50s himself.
After spending several weeks as a forward in the AFL team, James Borlase moved back to defence and was outstanding in clamping Liam McBean, keeping him to just one goal.
Dan Curtin put in a great defensive performance on Archie Lovelock, while Hugh Bond was able to keep Matthew Allen to just 11 disposals and without a goal.
Jack Madgen returned to the team from suspension and was a vital cog in defence, quietening Riley Holder whenever the Glenelg utility played inside 50.
Luke Pedlar (five clearances and nine tackles) was tough in the clinches, as was Jay Boyle (16 disposals, five clearances and a goal) who showed strength and power around the stoppages.
Harry Schoenberg worked through a tough tag from Alex Martini to finish with 18 disposals, doing his best work around the ground.
Glenelg had plenty of contributors as well, especially through their midfield which continued to battle away all afternoon.
Corey Lyons (19 disposals and eight tackles) and James Bell (17 disposals and five clearances) never stopped cracking in at the contest.
Jonty Scharenberg (21 disposals) found plenty of the ball across half-back, while Connor McLeod blanketed Ned McHenry and chalked up 18 touches of his own.
In his second game back from a long layoff, Cam McGree was well beaten in the ruck but looked promising when sent forward in the last quarter, kicking two goals from impressive pack marks.
South Adelaide 4.7.(31) def by Norwood 9.16.(70)
Norwood moved a game clear on top of the ladder following a scrappy 39-point win over South Adelaide at a boggy Noarlunga on Sunday.
With rain persisting for much of the day and conditions not ideal underfoot, the game was largely a slog as neither team could break the game open in the first three quarters.
South fought with dogged determination and applied extreme pressure on Norwood throughout the day to make life difficult for them, laying 103 tackles.
Norwood looked the better side for much of the game but kept South Adelaide in the game with errant kicking for goal, leading 4.14 to 4.7 at the final break.
The Redlegs were able to break the shackles in the last quarter as the tired Panthers ran out of legs, piling on five goals to no score and sealing the result.
While South fought on bravely, Norwood's superior strength and experience eventually told, winning inside 50s by 21, clearances by 18 and contested possessions by 38.
Harry Boyd was immense in the ruck once again, taking advantage of a favourable match-up against Damon Freitag to amass 22 disposals, 47 hitouts and 12 clearances.
Jackson Callow was also instrumental, kicking three goals on a tough day for tall forwards and continuing his new role at centre bounces to take two clearances as well.
Baynen Lowe (28 disposals and 15 tackles) was pivotal with his skills exiting the stoppages, while Alec Wright (15 disposals and 11 tackles) was tough at the contest.
Jake Creswell (19 disposals and three clearances) and Billy Cootee (22 disposals and seven tackles) also found plenty of the ball through the middle.
Jayden Gale was a solid performer in the forward line and finished with two goals, including a sensational finish from the pocket that sparked Norwood's final-quarter surge.
Izak Twelftree was another important contributor, snagging a goal from 18 disposals as he repeatedly presented hard at the footy.
Pierce Seymour played an absolute blinder in defence, racking up 23 disposals and eight rebound 50s as he marshalled the troops at the back.
Tom Graham played another great shutdown game on Noah Howes, keeping the young forward to just seven touches and a goal before he went down with an injury.
For South Adelaide, Kobe Mutch led the way with his unyielding effort through the midfield, racking up 30 disposals and five clearances.
Ollie Davis was serviceable with his 18 touches and seven tackles, while Tom Wheaton spent plenty of time around the ball and found five clearances and seven tackles.
Finn Emile-Brennan (16 disposals) never stopped running on the wing and was the spark behind much of South's ball movement.
Elliot Dunkin recovered from a quiet first quarter to record a game-high 31 disposals and 14 rebound 50s as he continually springboarded the Panthers from defence.
Although thoroughly overpowered, Damon Freitag battled valiantly in the ruck and got involved at ground level as well, laying a team-high 12 tackles for the day.
