North Adelaide beat Norwood in the preliminary final to set up a battle with South Adelaide in the SANFLW flag decider

North Adelaide is through to the SANFLW grand final after beating Norwood in a thriller at Norwood Oval on Friday night.

North Adelaide's Brittany Perry battles Norwood's Cassandra Tsoumbris during the sides' SANFLW preliminary final at Norwood Oval. Picture: Deb Curtis

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North Adelaide will battle South Adelaide in the SANFLW flag decider after beating Norwood by two points in a thrilling preliminary final at Norwood Oval on Friday night.

The Roosters exacted some revenge over the Redlegs with the 2.6 (18) to 1.10 (16) victory after they lost to Norwood in the 2017 grand final and again in last season’s prelim.

Speaking after the nailbiting finish, North Adelaide coach Matt Slade described the win as “massive”.

“It was a sigh of relief,” Slade said.

Norwood’s Sophie Armitstead surrounded by North Adelaide's Cristie Castle (L) Leah Tynan (centre) and Emma Sampson during the 2019 SANFLW preliminary final at Norwood Oval. Picture: Deb Curtis

“In those big games the previous two years we’ve been in that position and although we worked really hard we probably weren’t as consistent and therefore couldn’t get the result.

“Norwood has always got the better of us but to our girls’ credit, their workrate and persistence really paid off.”

North defenders Amber Ward (23 disposals, three tackles) and Olivia Gallio (14 possessions, two tackles, two clearances) were relentless, particularly during the fourth term when they were under immense pressure.

“The game was pretty scrappy in the end and it wasn’t ideally how we wanted to play,” Slade said.

“Two weeks in a row we’ve had less scoring shots … but it hasn’t fazed our backline.

“Amber Ward was tremendous, she’s got clean hands and when the ball hits the ground, her ability to win the contested ball is equally as strong.”

North forward Kelly Barltrop ended up booting the matchwinning goal for the Roosters in their preliminary final against Norwood. Picture: Deb Curtis

Norwood entered the clash without star midfielder Najwa Allen and forward Jo Hill.

Allen injured her knee in the semi-final loss to South Adelaide the week prior, while Hill was out with an illness.

Redlegs midfielder Hannah Dunn stepped up in Allen’s absence, registering 26 disposals, nine clearances and six tackles, while Sally Riley (22 touches, four tackles and five clearances) also battled hard.

The Redlegs won most of the key statistics, including hit-outs (32-17), clearances (29-18) and inside 50s (35-18) but lost the tackle count (68-58).

Coach Steve Symonds said his side’s accuracy in front of goal was what ultimately let it down.

“Unfortunately the last two weeks the opposition has put big numbers back into our forward line and we don’t have any dominant forwards and we struggle to score,” Symonds said.

“We can play really well and get the ball in there but unfortunately one goal 10 isn’t going to win you many games.

“We don’t like making excuses, we still have a competitive squad and our girls went out there and battled their hearts out but just didn’t quite have the polish.”

Norwood booted the first major less than a minute into the second stanza through Matilda Zander.

But three minutes later North co-captain Leah Tynan’s quick handball found Paige Allan who goaled, putting the visitors just three points behind again.

Norwood and North continued to create plenty of opportunities inside their attacking 50 but the pressure was so high that neither team could break through for a major score.

The competition’s leading goal scorer Kelly Barltrop booted what ended up being the matchwinner.

She goaled after taking a mark running back with the flight of the ball seven minutes into the third term.

North Adelaide will play South Adelaide in the SANFLW grand final at Glenelg Oval on Sunday, May 26 at 4pm.