EFL: Norwood searching for answers as it looks to turn form around

NORWOOD coach Patrick Bowden maintains his side can turn its form around after an indifferent start to the season that’s left it playing catch-up football for the third consecutive year.

Adam Gibson is taken in a tackle. Picture: Christopher Chan.

NORWOOD coach Patrick Bowden maintains his side can turn its form around after an indifferent start to the season that’s left it playing catch-up football for the third consecutive year.

The Norsemen have just two wins from the opening six rounds to sit two games and a sizeable percentage outside the top five, leaving them in danger of missing their third straight finals series.

Bowden said his side’s form had been too inconsistent, illustrated by a 91-point belting over Noble Park in Round 3 before an 84-point hiding at the hands of Vermont the following weekend.

“I think our best is pretty good but we’ve really only produced our best once for a whole game and in patches, and that’s in a quarter or half here and there, which isn’t what good teams do,” Bowden said.

“We’ve got to find consistency and get better at producing it over a longer period of time.”

Jamie Bennell had to sit out the final quarter against North Ringwood after suffering a knee injury but will take his place against Balwyn this Saturday.

Bowden said his side remained in the finals hunt.

“It’s not the start we wanted but we want to improve from here so we just want to go into each game trying to improve,” he said.

“We’ve got some guys out of form and we’ve got some guys who are still developing their skills so we need them to get better and we can play better footy.

“At the moment, we’re not (playing) the greatest footy as a team, which we want to change.”

Bowden said he could not pinpoint why Norwood was playing hot and cold football.

“We’ve tried to work on some different things and we’re getting there, we’re just not all the way there,” he said.

“We’ll look to get some younger guys in who are playing well in the reserves and give them a crack as well.”