I believe sturdy should act like it acts in the pokemon generations of 5 and 6 as it would add a little more usefulness to it in competitive battles and also make people think outside the "box" when trying to OHKO these types of pokemon namely skarmory.
Right now sturdy has no use whatsoever, but I feel as if it was given the same effect as in generations 5 and 6, it would see a little more light and day. I don't know how this would affect the current meta, but I would love to see how (always seem to find a negate impact of something suggested).