Central District has gone from wooden-spoon prospect to finals smoky in the blink of an eye
CENTRAL District kept its late-season SANFL run alive with a thumping victory in the elimination final over Norwood.
JUST four weeks ago Central District was staring grimly at the prospect of a wooden spoon.
Even seven-time Bulldogs premiership coach Roy Laird was being questioned whether he was the person capable of lifting the club back to powerhouse status.
Next Sunday, the Bulldogs will contest a second weekend of finals action after conquering Norwood by 48 points in the elimination final at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
It has been an incredible ride for the Bulldogs, winning their final four games to scramble into the finals on percentage and now still alive in the race for the flag.
“Collectively we all looked at our faults, me included,” Laird said.
“We were probably coaching some areas poorly and I think there is an element in getting more blokes in better physical condition.”
The Bulldogs’ run to the finals included an 82-point thumping of the Redlegs in round 16 and they opened in a similar vein on Saturday, nailing the opening three goals.
The Redlegs coughed up some poor turnovers early and the Bulldogs, putting their opponents under the pump with terrific pressure at the ball, pounced to punish them on the scoreboard.
Brad McKenzie was outstanding for the Redlegs and he had a heavy influence as they ate into the deficit. But they failed to capitalise on a second-quarter domination and the Redlegs paid a heavy price.
Despite having control of the contest, the Redlegs added only two goals while keeping the Bulldogs to three behinds.
The Redlegs had 54 more marks in the first half.
The two sides traded blows in a tightly fought third term, the run the Redlegs had in the second quarter dried up as the Bulldogs lifted the workrate.
As the second half lengthened, so too did the influence of Nick Holman and Chris Jansen on the ball, while Josh Glenn showed his true talents to create havoc up forward.
The Bulldogs missed comfortable shots at goal late in the third term and early in the fourth, although there was no damage as they ran riot to blow the game apart.
Glenn’s goal 18 minutes into the final term was evidence of his class, escaping around an opponent on the boundary before taking a bounce and kicking truly from 40m.
ELIMINATION FINAL
CENTRAL DISTRICT 6.1 6.5 10.8 17.13 (115)
NORWOOD 3.2 5.5 7.6 10.7 (67)
BEST
Central: Holman, F. Fort, Glenn, Goodrem, D. Fort, Presbury. Norwood: McKenzie, Kirwan, Shenton, Grigg, Georgiou.
GOALS
Central: Glenn 4, Hoskin 3, Goodrem, T. Schiller 2, F. Fort, Holman, Butcher, Habel, Hannath, Presbury. Norwood: Viney 2, Bampton, Bartlett, McKenzie, Wilson, Shenton, Dawe, Fuller, Grigg.
UMPIRES
Bowen, Medlin, Sobieraj