Watch SANFL: Norwood v Eagles league, reserves, under-18 match replays
Our full on footy weekend has kicked off with a Norwood v Eagles triple-header. Relive all the action from the clubs’ league, reserves and under-18 clashes here in the match replay videos.
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Brett Turner’s career was at the crossroads.
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After playing 64 league games in six years for West Adelaide and singing the Bloods’ victory song only 12 times, the midfield clearance specialist questioned where he was at with his football.
The 25-year-old had become so disillusioned at the end of last season he considered walking away from the SANFL and either playing country football or quitting the game altogether.
But a dinner with close friend and former Bloods teammate Tom Schott, who moved to Glenelg four years ago, and under-18 premiership teammate Sam Durdin’s decision to join the Tigers rather than his original club West following his delisting by North Melbourne, planted a seed that has reaped big rewards.
“I realised I’d got to the halfway point of my career and hadn’t had much success, not played finals,’’ Turner said.
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“And with Gavin Colville, who I had a great relationship with, not continuing as West coach, it got me thinking about the next step in my career.
“I didn’t really want to play against Westies, where I’d spent 10 years (including juniors), so at one stage I was going to have the year off.
“But Schotty spoke about the great culture at Glenelg (and) gave me head of football Paul Sandercock’s phone number.
“I contacted him in late December, when Glenelg didn’t even have a coach, and the rest is history.’’
Turner will line up for ladder-leader Glenelg in this weekend’s encounter with high-flying South Adelaide.
The Advertiser will live stream Saturday’s other clash of premiership contenders, as fourth-placed Norwood hosts second-ranked Woodville West Torrens from 2.10pm.
The Redlegs’ under-18 and reserves meetings with the Eagles will also be broadcast on advertiser.com.au from 11am.
Turner, who was admired for his clearance work after he finished eighth in the competition last year (averaging 5.6 a game), has enjoyed an incredible change of fortunes since signing for the Tigers.
He has sung Glenelg’s victory song more in one season than he did in six at West, with new coach Brett Hand’s side steamrollering its way to a club record 13 wins to start the season.
“The run we’ve had is amazing, it’s hard to put into words,’’ Turner said.
“It’s just been so enjoyable to be part of this team and I’m loving my footy again.’’
The powerfully-built, 185cm, 86kg Turner has played a key part in Glenelg’s stunning start, averaging 22.2 disposals, 6.3 clearances, 6.7 tackles and 114 Champion Data ranking points.
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He has formed a formidable on-ball brigade with Magarey Medallist Luke Partington, Matthew Snook and Brad Agnew.
While Turner has relished his change of scenery, he paid tribute to his former West coach and mentor Andy Collins for helping him take his game to the next level after a line-in-the-sand moment at the end of 2019.
Collins was responsible for getting Turner, a State under-16 basketballer, to the Bloods after meeting him at Richmond Oval during a Blackwood High School excursion.
When Turner was treading water following a bad syndesmosis injury in 2019, he turned to Collins, who is now senior assistant coach at VFL club Box Hill, for advice.
“We had a very honest conversation about where I was at and it was pretty confronting and centred on me becoming more professional, making better lifestyle choices and taking my football more seriously,’’ Turner said.
“I’d always been a talented kid but didn’t always work as hard as I could have and eventually that catches up with you.
“Andy is someone I have always respected and he sparked a fire in me to take things more seriously.’’
But while Turner fired on the field last year, West didn’t, winning just two games, finishing bottom and parting ways with its coach.
Now Turner finds himself at the other end of the premiership table.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we know that we’ve still got a lot of work to do and that premierships aren’t won in July,’’ he said.
The Norwood v Eagles under-18, reserves and league fixtures will be live streamed on advertiser.com.au from 11am on Saturday.
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