Eagles brought back to earth by Redlegs, but Godden not concerned
WOODVILLE-West Torrens coach Michael Godden is not concerned his side will enter the finals on the back of a “useless” performance against Norwood which almost cost it the minor premiership.
WOODVILLE-West Torrens coach Michael Godden is not concerned his side will enter the finals on the back of a “useless” performance against Norwood which almost cost it the minor premiership.
The Eagles sustained a shock 24-point defeat to the Redlegs at The Parade on Saturday, struggling to match the hosts’ intensity after halftime and looking nothing like the team that has lost just three other games this season.
But the visitors narrowly maintained top spot on percentage over South Adelaide and Godden was confident they could use the week off to regroup for a flag tilt.
“We’ve got 15 days until we play so it (losing to Norwood) is really quite irrelevant,” Godden said.
“Our formline over the last six to eight weeks has been outstanding.
“I’m pretty disappointed with the way we played.
“We got out of it injury-free, we had a really hard slog but we were just useless to be really honest.”
Godden said there were signs at training that his players did not view the game against the Redlegs as critical, knowing the club had a percentage buffer on South.
“But it probably got a bit closer than we would’ve liked,” he said.
That is to take nothing away from Norwood, which was strong defensively, tackled with desperation and played efficiently going forward.
Whereas the Eagles had kicked 2.9 from 26 inside 50s to halftime, the Redlegs booted 4.3 from 15.
It was all Norwood after the main break, as Matthew Panos, retiring Jaryd Cachia and Ed Smart were influential at the contests and co-captain Jace Bode was commanding across halfback.
The home side sealed the victory when swingman Alex Forster slotted his second goal midway through the final term.
Redlegs coach Ben Warren said the club’s season, including missing the finals for the first time since 2009, was disappointing but he was pleased to end on a high note.
“I’ve never at any stage thought we’ve given up — we’ve tried our best every single week,” Warren said.
“Today was a performance we know we’ve been capable of, we just haven’t been able to put it together.”
SCOREBOARD
NORWOOD 2.1 4.3 7.8 11.9 (75)
EAGLES 0.3 2.9 3.10 6.15 (51)
BEST — Norwood: Panos, A. Forster, Bode, Cachia, Smart, Baulderstone. Eagles: Hall, O’Brien, Petrenko, Allmond.
GOALS — Norwood: Donohue 3, A. Forster, Bampton, Panos 2; Jefferies, Wilson. Eagles: O’Brien 2; Ainger, Gaffney, Goldsworthy, Petrenko.
INJURIES — Nil
UMPIRES — Hundertmark, Crosby, Lewis
At The Parade