Norwood beats Eagles in SANFL semi-final to claim grand final berth
NORWOOD continued its drive to the SANFL flag, booking in a grand final berth with victory over Woodville-West Torrens in the second semi-final at Adelaide Oval.
NORWOOD is just one win from another premiership after conquering Woodville-West Torrens by 17 points in the second semi-final at Adelaide Oval on Sunday to charge into the grand final.
The Redlegs, a raging white-hot favourite for the flag, were forced to fight for the victory, but their superior polish in crucial moments proved decisive. Plus the pace of four-goal hero Anthony Wilson for the Redlegs was important.
Redlegs coach Jarrod Cotton said his side did not play its best game of football, but he was proud the players stuck at the task and got the job done.
“I’m happy, but it is more relief,” Cotton said. “Now we are there it has given us an opportunity to do what we strove for from the first day of pre-season.
“I’ve got great belief in the group and there is great trust in each other, you can see that on the ground.”
Eagles coach Michael Godden was also proud of his players for their performance to seriously challenge the minor premiers.
And they certainly made the Redlegs earn the win, as reflected on the scoreboard when the biggest margin for the middle two quarters was just 13 points.
That was the buffer held by the Redlegs after dominating the opening 10 minutes of the third quarter. They had trailed by seven points at half-time.
The Eagles’ cause was not helped by the loss of Tom Gray in the first quarter with a serious knee injury.
The Redlegs dominated territory in the first quarter, got their customary disciplined spread in defence and asked plenty of questions of the Eagles.
At times, the Eagles were there own worst enemy, putting themselves under pressure with skill errors or poor decision making.
The first three Redlegs goals came from Eagles’ mistakes. The efficiency of the Eagles going inside 50 was also a concern.
However, the Eagles kept coming at the Redlegs with Jared Petrenko, Luke Thompson and ruckman Jarrad Redden having an influence.
This was not a pretty contest, but both teams were committed. The pressure reflected a finals battle and as Godden noted, the Redlegs’ big guns such as Cameron Shenton, Mitch Grigg and Brad McKenzie stood up.
“Clearly I’m disappointed, we were right in it,” Godden said. “But I’m honestly quiet happy.
“For eight minutes there were better than us, for the rest we were strong. It proves the unbeatable is beatable if you can get a few of those little things right.
“The boys put in a strong effort. We understand personnel wise they are the elite and we took it up to them.”
The Eagles will face North Adelaide in the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
SCOREBOARD
NORWOOD 2.4 3.5 6.11 9.15 (69)
EAGLES 1.2 4.6 6.7 7.10 (52)
BEST — Norwood: Shenton, Wilson, Grigg, Smart, McKenzie, Bode. Eagles: Petrenko, Thompson, Redden, Firns, von Bertouch, Lewis.
GOALS — Norwood: Wilson 4, Bampton 2, Johnston, Panos, Grigg. Eagles: Haylock 2, Redden, Petrenko, Poole, Lukosius, Thompson.
INJURIES — Eagles: Gray (knee).
UMPIRES — Medlin, Philp, Harris.
CROWD — 13,102 at Adelaide Oval