Norwood showed its potential with a convincing win over Sturt in SANFL
Norwood has turned up the heat with the finals looming, taking care of business against Sturt in style with an emphatic victory.
Norwood has its swagger back and this is a team believing it can do plenty of damage come finals time.
The Redlegs will more than likely have to come from the elimination final, but that won’t stop this mob from having positive thoughts on their premiership claims.
Especially after brushing Sturt aside at Unley Oval on Sunday, taking care of business in emphatic fashion with a 59-point victory to give fellow flag aspirants something to seriously ponder.
While the Redlegs failed to move from fifth spot on the ladder, they are only percentage below the Double Blues and a game below third-placed Port Adelaide with just two rounds remaining. And the Redlegs finish the minor round against lowly-placed Central District and West Adelaide.
“It is an even competition and anyone who finishes in the five is a possibility,” Redlegs coach Jarrod Cotton said. “Sturt is a good team, Glenelg is playing excellent footy and Adelaide and Port (Adelaide) are strong teams.
“South Adelaide aren’t out of it yet. It is a wide open year and anyone on their day can win it.
“I have full confidence in our group and when we are playing the footy we can play we can beat anyone. We leave Glenelg (46-point loss in round 13) and everyone thinks we are a rabble and can’t play.”
The Redlegs established the platform for the win in the opening quarter when they took advantage of the wind at their backs to build a 32-point buffer. They won the clearances, spread with discipline and constantly bombarded their forward line. And when the Redlegs didn’t have the ball their defensive actions created opportunities.
Their composure and confidence was a contrast to the panicked and harassed Double Blues, whose movement into the forward 50 was too often careless.
“The game was over by quarter time, they got right on top around the footy and used the ball better,” Double Blues coach Nathan Grima said. “We were just fighting our way back into it all game. We responded okay in the second quarter but could not make an impact on the scoreboard.
“They kicked 12 goals from turnovers, we kicked three. They used the ball at a senior level and we used it at a level not acceptable for a top five SANFL team.”
SCOREBOARD
NORWOOD 6.3 8.4 12.5 17.7 (109)
STURT 1.1 3.7 3.10 6.14 (50)
BEST - Norwood: Shenton, Nunn, Georgiou, Stephens, McKenzie, Johnston. Sturt: Stephens, Battersby, Colquhoun.
GOALS - Norwood: Panos, Barry, Baulderstone, Dawe 2, Bampton, Grigg, Hamilton, Nunn, Wilson, Johnston, J. Richards, Gerloff, Smart. Sturt: Hone, Sutcliffe 2, Colquhoun, Read.
UMPIRES - Bryce, Philp, Burke.
CROWD - 2988 at Peter Motley Oval, Unley.