Norwood has beaten Central District by 53 points

The SANFL crown is Norwood's to lose.

The SANFL crown is Norwood's to lose.

The Redlegs, hot favourites to repeat last year's premiership glory, bared their teeth to the competition when they pushed aside Central District by 53 points at The Parade.

Six points clear of their nearest rival with only two rounds remaining, the Redlegs cannot be denied the minor premiership and the week's rest for the opening round of the finals.

The manner of the convincing victory over the Bulldogs had Redlegs fans talking back-to-back flags and there would be few people willing to argue against such a scenario.

The Redlegs were missing a swag of key personnel and still got the job done with a professional and disciplined performance against a Bulldogs outfit prepared to challenge the home side with aggression. Redlegs coach Nathan Bassett was more than satisfied with the effort from his side and rather than shy away from the favouritism tag, he is only too willing to embrace it.

''We are the top side and have lost only five games in two years so we should be favourite,'' Bassett said. ''We will just try and play the best footy we can.

''They (Bulldogs) had set it as an important game for them and they were very physical early. They deserved to be a goal or two closer at three-quarter time but we played some pretty powerful footy in the last quarter.''

These two teams are not the best of friends and that was evident by the push and shove between players in the warm up.

Redlegs captain Kieran McGuinness had a chat with the umpires before the coin toss but just a minute into the contest Bulldogs' Scott Dutschke received a free kick and nailed the goal.

The ball had not even been bounced to restart play when the umpires penalised Dutschke and the Redlegs received a free kick in the middle of the ground.

The Bulldogs attacked the body and ball with an aggressive intent and their tackling pressure had an impact early in the contest.

It took the home side plenty of time to settle and they needed 15 minutes to retaliate on the scoreboard courtesy of a Darren Pfeiffer goal.

The push and shove erupted again after the quarter-time siren and it was the Redlegs who responded best to break the game open in the second quarter, bagging five goals and restricting the Bulldogs to just three behinds.

Tim Webber involved himself in the heavy work on the ball for the home side, Lewis Stevenson had an influence and Liam Davis was a concern for the Bulldogs defence.

The Bulldogs, sparked by James Boyd around the stoppages, ventured inside their 50m more than the Redlegs but they wasted chances with sloppy skills. In contrast, the Redlegs were far more polished and dangerous in attack and made the most of their opportunities. The visitors had plenty of the action to cut the deficit to just 18 points midway through the third term, only to be over run by a ruthless Redlegs.

''We did not handle their pressure well at all and we could not apply the same going the other way,'' Bulldogs coach Roy Laird lamented. ''Our entries (into the 50m) were scrappy and we were disappointing from a marking point of view. We got a lesson in four-quarter football.''