How tall ‘Legs found their feet to inspire Norwood’s SANFL flag push

They are Norwood’s “odd couple” and have come from the clouds to spark the club’s SANFL premiership push. Meet the unlikely key forward pairing of Finn Heard and Izaak Twelftree.

They are Norwood’s “odd couple’’.

One spent three long years running around kicking the dew off the grass in the Redlegs’ reserves before making his league debut this season.

The other was playing a low level of amateur league footy a few years ago and, in his own words, “wasn’t very good’’.

Now they are playing integral roles in minor premier Norwood’s pursuit of its second SANFL league premiership in three years.

At the start of the year, Finn Heard and Izaak Twelftree were among “a surplus of tall forwards’’ the Redlegs had on their playing list, leaving coach Jade Rawlings to “throw it all out there in the pre-season and see who would emerge’’.

“We had a lot of emerging players and we didn’t know (what they would do),’’ Rawlings said.

“We basically said ‘the opportunity is there, who wants it the most?’, and Finn and Izaak took their chances at the right time, which has been really enjoyable to see.

“Any time you want to make a spike in your performance you need someone or a couple of players to jump up in their output and those two have been able to do that.’’

Norwood key forwards Izaak Twelftree (left) and Finn Heard at training at The Parade this week. Picture: Kelly Barnes

The 195cm Heard – the 22-year-old younger brother of dual The Advertiser SANFL Team of the Year and 2022 Redlegs premiership defender Jack Heard – had spent the previous three seasons stuck in Norwood’s reserves, playing 40 seconds games.

He made his league debut against Sturt in Round 1 this year and played 15 consecutive matches, kicking 16 goals, before breaking his left foot against Glenelg in Round 16 and being sidelined since, although he has been declared fit to play against Central District in Sunday’s second semi-final at Adelaide Oval.

The 193cm Twelftree, 23, played two league games last season – in rounds 13 and 14 – after a winding football journey that saw him be a “pretty late developer’’ who “wasn’t very good’’ in juniors, play two under-18s games with Sturt before he got injured and then spend two seasons with Pembroke Old Scholars in the Adelaide Footy League, starting in their Division 4 C-grade side before working his way up to their A-grade.

He expressed interest in playing SANFL again and Rawlings got word of it, inviting him to pre-season training for the 2022 season.

Now Twelftree is one win away from playing in a league grand final, having played all 18 league games for the ‘Legs this season, kicking 25 goals and being a strong contender for the SANFL’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.

Finn Heard in action against Central District in Round 15. Picture: Cory Sutton

Izaak Twelftree in action against North Adelaide in Round 5. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“He’s been one of our shining lights as far as improvement is concerned and has shown that he’s absolutely capable at the level with his consistency this year,’’ Rawlings said.

Twelftree admits he was once “a little bit lazy’’ and “undersold’’ himself to Rawlings during their first conversation but that the Norwood 2022 premiership coach had drawn the best out of him.

“Twig (Rawlings) has been great for my football, we really clicked from the start,’’ he said.

Twelftree, Heard and star full forward Jackson Callow have formed a powerful key forward combination, helping the Redlegs rise from seventh last season to top this year.

“It’s been awesome how things have unfolded for me this year but it makes it so easy to play well with the group we have,’’ Twelftree said.

“We have so many boys who have come up from reserves this year and taken the bull by the horns straight away.

“Tristan Binder (another key forward) has had a whole year of ressies and then come into the league side for the past three games (replacing the injured Heard) and absolutely torn it up (kicking nine goals).

“It makes it so much easier to play well when you have such a great group.’’

Heard’s rise after playing under-18s and then three years of reserves is just as remarkable.

“Finn’s been one of our biggest improvers,’’ Rawlings said.

“It pretty much took him four years in our senior system to make his debut and now he’s a consistent part of our team week-in, week-out.

Izaak Twelftree (left) and Finn Heard at Norwood Oval this week. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“He had a couple of challenges with his knees but he also needed to understand what it was all about in regards to work ethic, performance and consistency.

“That’s the beauty of it, you get to age 22 before you make your debut and then you play every game until you get injured.

“Finn’s been a work in progress but he has a great attitude and is now one of the most driven players on our list.

“Apart from playing a key role for us in attack, he’s been able to support (Magarey Medal favourite) Harry Boyd in the ruck, which has been an important part of what we’ve done this year, and I couldn’t be prouder of how he’s performed.’’

Heard revealed his career had been curtailed by a sore left knee, which had affected his confidence, before having his leg surgically repaired (six pins inserted into the bottom of the femur and some knee cartilage trimmed) at the end of 2022, resulting in a delayed start to pre-season training.

“The knee gave me a fair bit of grief for the best part of three years,’’ he said.

“It took a while to diagnose correctly and we tried to work through it with rehab and cortisone injections before an MRI revealed what was causing the problem and we had the surgery, which has made a big difference.

“I was able to put together a full pre-season and be injury free and have been able to develop off the back of that.’’