Monday Recovery: North Adelaide captain Max Thring leads from front to lift Roosters to flag
NORTH Adelaide captain Max Thring is a pest on the field, but there is no denying his huge heart. In the final Monday Recovery of the season, we look at Thring’s great grand final, Mitch Grigg’s AFL prospects and what we could see from your team in 2019.
- SANFL 2018 grand final in pictures
- Rucci: Roosters proved why SANFL still relevant
- Outsiders prove league is even
- North’s remarkable rise to SANFL crown
NORTH Adelaide captain Max Thring is a pest on the field, but there is no denying his huge heart. In the final Monday Recovery of the season, we look at Thring’s great grand final, Mitch Grigg’s AFL prospects and what we could see from your team in 2019.
THRING LEADS FROM FRONT
North Adelaide captain Max Thring is a pest on the field, there is no doubt about that.
But there is no denying the bloke has a huge heart. He went into the grand final under an injury cloud after damaging his calf in the preliminary final.
Thring looked to be limping in the second quarter and even spent an extended time on the bench. And he appeared spent in the final.
But he kept going and inspiring. What a great leader!
NO NEED FOR CHANGE
North Adelaide could have had one of the bigger AFL changerooms for the grand final.
But coach Josh Carr was content to stay on in the smaller cricket rooms. And why not?
The Roosters were comfortable with the cricket changerooms and why alter a winning formula after the impressive three finals leading into the big one.
CARR STAYS ON BOUNDARY
It will be interesting to see if Carr stays on the boundary next season or moves back to the coaching box.
He has hinted at taking a seat in the grandstand next season, but after the way the Roosters performed on the big stage in the finals he may be prepared to stay put in front of the bench.
Whatever his decision, he is going to have a far more enjoyable summer than the previous couple.
GRIGG FOR AFL!
There can be 44 players on an AFL list so that means 792 for the competition, give or take one or two here and there.
So try and convince me Mitch Grigg is not better than at least one bloke with an AFL club. Put him back in a full-time program and his fitness will improve.
Grigg carried the Redlegs on his back on Sunday and deserves another crack.
ROOSTERS REMEMBER
There was a touching moment after the grand final when the Roosters’ trainers and coaching staff congregated in the middle of the ground and looked skyward.
It was obviously in memory of highly popular trainer Vaughan Taylor, who died in the doorway of the visitors’ changerooms at Elizabeth Oval just minutes after the opening round game against Central District at finished.
WARREN’S FLAG
Benny Warren has ended his playing days on a high, kicking three goals for Langhorne Creek in the Great Southern grand final victory over McLaren at Mount Compass on Saturday.
Speaking before the game, Warren said he was going to position himself in a forward pocket and not move.
Warren won a grand final as a player and coach with Norwood and has been working at Sturt as the midfield coach.
There was a strong Glenelg flavour in the Langhorne Creek line-up with Jarrod Kellock BOG, James Sellar, Lachie Earl and Angus Lally.
The McLaren side included Jordon Mutton, brother-in-law of Warren.
BIG NAMES
It was a big day of country grannies on the weekend and there were plenty of familiar names having a run.
Hahndorf had Matt Jaensch and Michael Handby, an assistant coach at North and South Adelaide, in the team which beat Uraidla. Nick Amato, who walked out on Glenelg in July, and former reliable North Adelaide defender Luke Evans lined up for Uraidla.
Scott McMahon-coached Imperials beat Mannum with former Rooster John Boras bagging six. Gene Robinson, who had a stint with Adelaide’s state league side, kicked five in the losing side.
In Gawler, Nuriootpa conquered Tanunda with Henry Slattery and the Raikiwasa brothers Aseri and Aisea in the side. Former Sturt ruckman Angus Kurtze, Matthew Prior, Josh Trembath and Matthew Westhoff were in the Tanunda jumper.
RESULTS
Grand final
NORTH ADELAIDE 5.0 9.4 14.7 19.10 (124)
NORWOOD 3.7 7.11 12.14 15.15 (105)
BEST — North: Schwarz, Barns, Castree, Tropiano, Woodcock, Harvey. Norwood: Grigg, Johnston, Fuller, Nunn, Wilson.
GOALS — North: Barns 4, Woodcock, McInerney, Harvey 3, Hender 2, Young, Ramsey, Sweet, Wilkie. Norwood: Grigg 6, Phillips, Wilson 2, Dawe, Fuller, Smart, Shenton, Bampton.
INJURIES — Norwood: Wilkins (concussion)
UMPIRES — Bowen, Medlin, Harris
CROWD — 40,355 at Adelaide Oval
JACK OATEY MEDAL — Mitch Grigg (Norwood)
FINALS
Preliminary: North Adelaide 15.10 (100) d Eagles 14.11 (95)
Second semi: Norwood 9.15 (69) d Eagles 7.10 (52)
First semi: North Adelaide 16.15 (111) d Sturt 8.5 (53)
Qualifying final: Eagles 8.13 (61) d Sturt 6.4 (40)
Elimination final: North Adelaide 14.6 (90) d South Adelaide 10.10 (70)
LADDER
Norwood 28 (57.42%)
Eagles 25 (55.67
Sturt 24 (55.10)
South Adelaide 22 (55.52)
North Adelaide 22 (52.34)
Glenelg 18 (49.12)
West Adelaide 16 (47.05)
Central District 14 (47.37)
Port Adelaide 9 (43.83)
Adelaide 2 (37.10)
THIS WEEK
Tuesday: Chimney ceremony, West End Brewery, 11am
NEXT SEASON
North Adelaide: The Roosters are a young group and will take a lot of confidence into next season. They will start minus four points as penalty for the 19 man and will lose some youngsters to the draft, but the pieces of the jigsaw are in place.
Norwood: There will be even more resolve at The Parade after the grand final loss. The Redlegs have a strong list and they will seriously challenge again. There has been speculation ruckman Sam Baulderstone will call it a day, but he should be back.
Eagles: The Eagles have been the most consistent club for a few years and there is nothing to suggest that won’t change. Jimmy Toumpas must be a chance to return to Woodville Oval.
Sturt: has lost the coach and ruckman Jack Osborn. There are still plenty of big names and they will enjoy regaining health over the summer.
South Adelaide: They will benefit from the experience of the elimination final when they failed to handle the occasion in the final quarter. Need to keep Nick Liddle and there is no reason he should not play on after being outstanding this season.
Glenelg: Got on a roll in the second half of the season as the players adapted to Mark Stone’s message. Will again be active in recruiting and go into 2019 with plenty of momentum and optimism.
West Adelaide: Inconsistency was an issue for the Bloods, but they showed plenty of promising signs in coach Gavin Colville’s first season in charge. The Bloods can go into 2019 with plenty of belief.
Central District: Could lose some experienced personnel and three young guns to the draft. Recruiting is the key to a revival, they must strengthen the list and get some mongrel into the side.
Port Adelaide: Struggled in the second half of the season when they were forced to use plenty of top up players, something Adelaide has had to contend with most seasons. Incredibly, hoping to get the rules changed so they can strengthen their list of top up players.
Adelaide: Plagued by injuries and had to rely on a swag of top up players. The Crows’ fortunes hinge so much on injuries to the AFL list.