SANFL 2016: Norwood conquer West Adelaide by 14 points in Round 19
NORWOOD is salvaging some pride as a fruitless season is coming to an end after beating West Adelaide in a bite-the-nails finish Sunday in Richmond.
NORWOOD is salvaging some pride as a fruitless season is coming to an end after beating West Adelaide in a bite-the-nails finish Sunday in Richmond.
The 14-point win effectively ends the spectre of a wooden spoon and hands it squarely to the Bloods, whose season can’t finish soon enough.
It also gives some breathing space to coach Ben Warren, who has been under a searing torch light for the Redlegs’ underperforming season but displayed some promising signs for the future as well as some of the class that had them a SANFL powerhouse only a couple of seasons ago.
Some of Norwood’s players were in rare form, from the beautifully-composed Matthew Panos, former Blue Jaryd Cachia, ruckman Sam Baulderstone, captain Jace Bode and the interception expert in Michael Chippendale.
West Adelaide put up a fight and you couldn’t pick it when the Bloods began the final quarter nine points behind but with a strong wind at their backs. It is where the game was lost by Westies and won by a couple of shrewd coaching manoeuvres from Warren.
The Bloods can only kick themselves, because they dominated the early passages of the quarter but kept kicking points. At the same time, Warren regrouped by sending players back and employed more of a slingshot approach, in which the Redlegs turned it into a footrace after turning the ball over.
And where the Bloods lacked polish, the Redlegs had it in buckets through clever little Peter Persinos, who finished with four goals, and elegant Lewis Johnston, who kicked three important goals which all came when the match was on edge.
West Adelaide’s match wasn’t without highlights and, after a scoreless first quarter, treated the crowd to a match where nobody could question the players’ endeavour nor signs for the future.
The most obvious story of the day was that of 16-year-debutant Izak Rankine, who finished with two goals, held his own around the stoppages and seems destined for a big future in the game. At only 65kg, you could have forgiven the gate attendant for thinking he had mistaken Richmond for Morphettville racecourse but he never took a backwards step.
The other story of the day was premiership defender Errin Wasley-Black who walked away with a fine haul of five goals, several of them through quick and clear thinking and others through crisp and sure skills.
It was fitting that it was a young player who kicked what was effectively a sealer for Norwood, when Anthony Giannini bagged his first goal at league level after being set up by Panos.
Rankine kicked his second soon after but it was too little, too late for the Bloods.
SCOREBOARD
WEST ADELAIDE 0.3 5.3 7.5 9.12 (66)
NORWOOD 3.3 4.6 8.8 12.8 (80)
BEST
WEST ADELAIDE
Wasley-Black, Hill, O’Brien, Green, Hartlett, Fielke
NORWOOD
Panos, Cachia, Chippendale, Persinos, Bode, Johnston
GOALS
WEST ADELAIDE
Wasley-Black 5, Rankine 2, Haysman, Turner
NORWOOD
Persinos 4, Johnston 3, Panos, Wilson, Viney, Fuller, Giannini
UMPIRES
Schramm, Scott, Philp
Crowd: 1726 at City Mazda Stadium