Norwood loses Ed Smart for three weeks of SANFL action

NORWOOD will be without Ed Smart for three weeks due to work and study commitments overseas, prompting a revamp of the line-up to face South Adelaide at The Parade.

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NORWOOD will be without pacy Ed Smart for three weeks due to employment and study commitments overseas.

Smart had a heavy influence in Monday’s narrow loss to Sturt at The Parade, but he has travelled to Thailand and will miss three games starting with the challenging contest against South Adelaide at home on Sunday.

Redlegs’ Jarrod Cotton said as coach he would rather have the premiership player in the line-up, but as a parent he said it was the right decision to make his employment a priority.

“The trip is an opportunity to progress his employment,” Cotton said. “It was a hard decision for him and he almost did not do it.

“I told him, ‘if I was talking to my son and it is an opportunity to do that with your life, you have to do it’.”

Chris Olsson and Luke Wilson, brother of Anthony, are options to take Smart’s spot after being named on a five-man bench.

Cotton wants to pressure the Panthers with his “smalls” and the pace of Olsson and Wilson is much needed on the evidence of the game against the Double Blues.

“The focus is always on bringing elite pressure and intensity because that puts you in the game,” Cotton said. “We need to get better in regards to our execution, plus we allowed too much space when defending last week.”

The Panthers dominated Glenelg around the stoppages in the opening round last week, but Cotton said he would back his midfield against any side in the competition.

Cotton was impressed with the work of Peter Bampton on Double Blues gun James Battersby and he may be given another run-with role, probably on Panthers star Joel Cross.

Peter Bampton. Picture: Calum Robertson

There will also be plenty of interest in the reserves when former Central District midfielder Josh Glenn, on bail following an assault charge, makes his debut for the Redlegs.

Adelaide finalised its line-up to confront the Double Blues at Unley Oval with Riley Knight, Curtly Hampton, Myles Poholke and Domenic Constanzo coming into the side thumped by Port Adelaide in the opening round.

Crows midfielder Patrick Wilson, a crucial member of the Double Blues’ back-to-back premierships in the past two years, returns to Unley as the enemy.

Bulldogs coach Roy Laird said he approached the battle against Woodville-West Torrens at Woodville Oval opened minded as to what game style to expect from the Eagles.

“Obviously they have had some disappointments in recent years so they may look to change things up,” Laird said. “They have always been hard to score against and we will need to move the ball really effectively.

“They have clearly been a strong side for a long time and on their home ground they have been incredibly hard to beat.”

SANFL ON SUNDAY

North Adelaide v West Adelaide

Prospect Oval, 1.10pm

Radio: 1079 Life FM

Norwood v South Adelaide

Coopers Stadium, Norwood, 2.10pm

Eagles v Central District

Maughan Thiem Hyundai Oval, Woodville, 2.10pm

Sturt v Adelaide

Peter Motley Oval, Unley, 2.10pm

All matches live stream sanfldigitalpass.com.au