Norwood midfielder Mitch Grigg says he would swap his Jack Oatey Medal in a heartbeat for a premiership
NORWOOD midfielder Mitch Grigg further enhanced his claims for an AFL return by winning the Jack Oatey Medal on Sunday but said he would give it all back to have a premiership medal instead.
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NORWOOD midfielder Mitch Grigg further enhanced his claims for an AFL return by winning the Jack Oatey Medal on Sunday but said he would give it all back to have a premiership medal instead.
The two-time reigning Magarey Medallist was at his brilliant best for the Redlegs with six goals and 31 disposals from the midfield but wasn’t able to drag his team over the line against North Adelaide in the SANFL grand final.
“I’m extremely disappointed, I’d give the medal and all my touches away to get a grand final medal around my neck but it wasn’t our day and to North’s credit they were too good all around the ground and were jagging goals left, right and centre,” Grigg said.
“It’s very flattening when they kicking goals from the boundary but at the end of the day they were just too good.
“I thought our ball movement was pretty woeful to be honest, they kicked five or six goals from our turnovers and that’s not the way we play, that certainly wasn’t us today.
“Our pressure and intent was up to our standard as it should be but our turnover really let us down.”
Grigg, 25, played 20 AFL games with Adelaide from 2013-2015 before being delisted but has dominated at SANFL level since and could not have done much more to push for a second chance at the top level.
“Obviously right now it’s hard to cop the loss but like I’ve said before I’ve still got aspirations to get another crack, but at this stage I’ll just celebrate the year we’ve had because we still had a good year.
“We finished top, went through to a grand final and just weren’t good enough on the day.”
There were tears in the Norwood rooms post-match after a player meeting with coach Jarrod Cotton but no retirement announcements.
“Cotts just addressed us and said how proud he was of our year and he could see the disappointment on our faces,” Grigg said.
“We knew North Adelaide was a momentum side and when they get on spurts they’re usually nailing goals and it was our job to try to rectify that and not let them get those run-ons but they were just too good.
“We’ve got to regroup and come back bigger and better next year.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au