SANFL Round 9 – Norwood v South Adelaide: Legs hang on in Brady Dawe’s 200th game: by Malcolm Rulebook Ashwood
Norwood just hold on to record a gutsy 2 point win over South Adelaide at Noarlunga in Brady Dawe’s 200th game.
A fantastic achievement of perseverance from the three time premiership player. After initially being rejected by Sturt as a junior he was recommended to the Legs by Brett James when he was coaching against Brady. Furthermore, for any one to devote the time and passion to playing so many games at SANFL level when it no longer has the kudos or financial rewards of days past should be congratulated.
The Legs were down to no rotations left on the bench at the start of the last quarter with Jace Bode, Ed Smart and
Mitch Grigg all off injured. With Alex Georgiou and Peter Bampton both carrying injuries, in normal circumstances would have seen them off the ground.
In the last quarter, people were critical of the Legs playing keeping off footy at the 11 minute mark when 26 points up but with the lack of able bodies on the ground I felt it was sensible footy.
However, the decision making when to pull the trigger and play fast footy during this process when a clear opening presents itself can be improved.
While a case can be made that it automatically should be play on when the ball is kicked backwards behind centre, it’s not a case of all the other recent rule changes improving the game is it ?
The 1st quarter South Adelaide worked harder than Norwood kicking against the breeze and really controlled the play for long periods. They were more efficient out of the centre square with Joel Cross being particularly damaging, and apart from a couple of very poor turn overs, they controlled the game. One turnover was cleverly intercepted by debutant Brodie Carroll giving off to long goal pocket specialist, Cam Shenton who duly delivered. Somehow the Legs went in at quarter time up by 4 points with the Panthers looking the better side.
In the 2nd quarter again the Panthers played the better footy with Alex Cailotto while being beaten tap wise, worked hard and linked up around the ground. Joe Haines has gained confidence from playing state footy and was composed in defence. It will be interesting to see if his elite foot skills get looked at by AFL scouts. Nick Liddle was influential when thePanthers were on top, although I must admit I don’t think he works hard enough defensively and does run ahead of the play too much for my liking. While the Panthers were 15 points up at half time it was surprising the Legs were that close.
The 3rd quarter Dom Barry burst in to the game linking up well and kicked 2 goals. The highlight of the day was a monster torpedo from Lewis Johnston deep in defence to a open forward line where Anthony Willson seemingly came from nowhere to pressure the South defender with Peter Bampton then kicking the goal.
As esteemed Legs trainer Denis Paul Sella-Gianot said after the game, it was one of the Legs greatest ever team goals.
Mitch Grigg had been important with 21 touches and 2 goals to lemon time. Watching him being treated it was becoming increasingly obvious that he would be unlikely to be able to continue the game. He tried, but alas, was unable to continue, and so his day was done. While the Legs were up by 15 points with the Panthers to come home with the breeze, I must admit my money would have been on South, well and truly.
The Redlegs kicked the first 2 goals of the last quarter to open up a 26 point lead but the petrol tickets were all nearly used up. Joel Cross was the most influential player on the ground for the whole game. Our best defensive mid fielder in Will Abbott is injured, and personally I would love the Legs to try and develop a tagger for situations such as Cross.
Abe Davis, with Tyson Brown and Malcolm Karpany’s help kept coming, with only a couple of defensive marks from Brad McKenzie who is in a rich vein of form at present.
Brad McKenzie
The Legs fell over the line with the siren ringing with the ball in the Panthers forward line. Lovely time keeping!
Other good players across the day were Cole Gerloff continuing to build consistency and becoming a key player. Alex Georgiou and Michael Talia were very good in defence also which they definitely needed to be with South having 59 entries in to its forward 50 compared to only 43 from the Legs.
Onto my bug bear yet again, inconsistent umpiring which didn’t favour either side, just poor overall especially re the rucking infringements. The overwhelming majority of umpires at both SANFL and AFL level do not understand the laws of the game in this regard and have a complete lack of feel and spirit of the game. I have to be honest, it is an area Sam Baulderstone needs to improve in as well as one of the shepherding out free kicks in ruck paid was blatantly correct. I would invite the SANFL umpires to training to at least try and learn their individual interpretations.
Confusion reigned supreme re a 6 6 6 starting positioning free kick paid against Norwood yesterday. Isn’t there supposed to be a warning given?
An umpire in particular seems to be more red hot on this rule than any of the other umpires either way. While it may sound ridiculous, I feel it is something the Legs should be practising, giving away the free kick and the subsequent 50 and shot at goal is having an impact on games.
So on to next week when Norwood play Port Power reserves on Sunday at Alberton.
Where with the lack of injuries at AFL level for Port, the Power reserves will start favourites ( remember Port Magpies? ). I wonder if they can have more than one gate open to get in. South Adelaide have a huge game at home v the high flying top of the table, Glenelg.
Sonya Carroll proud and emotional mum with her son Brodie after his successful league debut ( love this photo )
Brodie Carroll 1st gamer with Brady Dawe 200th after the Legs have snuck home.
The Carroll family including well known Adelaide cricket identity Brodie’s grampa
Bob Woods ( hard for Bob as he is a South Adelaide man! )
James Snelgrove, Bradley De Lucia, Brodie Carroll, Sonya Carroll, Bob Woods, Raelene Woods, Mark Snelgrove, Glenys Snelgrove
All photos by Malcolm Ashwood except where indicated.
Norwood 14-9-93 d South Adelaide 13-13-91
Goals
Norwood: D Barry, C Gerloff, M Grigg, L Johnston, C Shenton 2, P Bampton, C Szust,
M Wilkins, A Willson
South Adelaide: J Cross 4, K Emery, M Karpany 2, L Fitt, J Haines, B Heaslip, M Noble
T Whittlesea
Best:
Norwood: B McKenzie, C Gerloff, L Johnston, C Shenton, M Grigg, A Georgiou, M Talia, D Barry
South Adelaide: J Cross, J Haines, A Cailotto, A Davis,T Brown,N Liddle, M Karpany
Crowd 2,191
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Another good job Malcolm.
Wasn’t able to follow this game with a Family Function to attend, but did sneak a peak on line every now and then.
Up in the first, down at half time, and then saw a score when we were 4 goals up. Shocked to see the final margin of 2 points!!!
But reading various reports, it seems they were very brave. Geez, isn’t it hard enough trekking to the South Pole to play, without copping a bunch of injuries as well?
Agree with comments re Umpiring. The Rules of the game become more complex each year, to the point the AFL like to see frees paid in the context of the game, not what the actual rule demands!
A win at that arctic, wind swept paddock is always hard work and we were under the pump from go to whoa. Firstly a very poor opening quarter when we had the breeze behind us, and a failure to pay any respect to Joel Cross made our early life difficult. The second term was a slight improvement defensively, but South lead narrowly at half time. Our third, in my book was as good as anything we’ve showed this year, and Mitch Grigg really turned it on in what was a significant day for him and his family. Unfortunately injury saw Mitch join Ed Smart and Jace Bode on the casualty bench. With no rotations and kicking into a strong breeze a fifteen point three quarter time margin was not a huge lead to defend, but the Norwood motto is Fortis in Procella….Strength in Adversity……and we lived up to our motto. A very hard earned two points with a two point winning margin.
A great write up, Malcolm, as usual !!!
Good write up. A great win by Norwood away from home closer to Antarctica.
Fantastic achievement by Brady Dawe to reach 200 games in this AFL era. A true loyal hardworking Norwood man. Well done.
Could it be a Norwood Glenelg GF this year ?
PS – 32 degrees in sunny Darwin today. ??
Good work Book.
As per usual Malcolm, you’ve aced it again. Kicking into the breeze, no rotations left and virtually 16 men on the field in the final quarter, this has to be an incredible courageous win from the Legs. Only hope Panos, Bode and Grigg come up for the big match against the Power seconds
As always a thorough review of the match.Brady Dawe magnificent to get to 200 games in an era were the players still have to devote so much time for less rewards re money these days.I hope our injuries sustained aren’t long term,would love to be at full strength to take on the power reserves this week.
Good summation of the game, but can’t blame lack of rotations. We played some very ordinary footy with a full contingent. I love the legs but, we got flogged by the cows, eagles should have won by more except for bad kicking for goal, we beat westies playing one good quarter of footy and fell in against South. We need to improve big time be to be a force in the finals this year. Our overuse of the ball in the back line, sometimes five plus possessions and still in the back 50, is a big worry to me. Not to mention the times it results in a turnover and the opposition capitalise. With the new rule of running out the square after a behind the kick out should hit centre and not the back pocket. Frustrated.
Another great win by Norwood down at Noarlunga where it seems these long weekends have not been kind to the Panthers this year. A shame the legs ran out of puff but those injuries, ouch. Hopefully all will be good come Sunday.
Go Legs!
I’m glad you mentioned that silly play in the last quarter. Kicked it backwards for about two minutes.
Good job Malcolm it was exactly how I felt being there agree about the goal and myself turning religious praying for the siren in those last seconds
Good win considering the injuries in last quarter , amazed you didn’t mention Cameron Shenton’s big mark in 2 quarter, great effort for Dawe to reach 200 in this era of Sanfl not many do anymore
Well done to Norwood on a gutsy win. As a Panthers’ fan, it’s been a disappointing couple of weeks after the lads registered a flat performance against the Eagles the week before. I note Rulebook’s observations about the inconsistent umpiring, which is disappointing given the SANFL is often considered the best state league in the country.
Wins at Noarlunga are difficult to achieve under any circumstances, so this one was particularly meritorious. It was obvious that the team would have to play some slow footy in order to conserve its limited resources in the last quarter, but I was concerned that the decision to go slow happened at the eleven minute mark and at a time when Norwood still had scoring momentum. Nonetheless, well done to the team for hanging on to record a courageous win. I’m impressed by Cole Gerloff’s continual development into a player who has a significant impact on the outcome of games. Congratulations to Brady Dawe on his 200 games for the Red and Blues.
Good write up Rulebook. Good win for Brady Dawe in his 200th. Doesn’t sound like we’ll get a fully fit team for the magpies. Leave your valuable at home next week!
Great effort o hang on and win in difficult circumstances. Will be challenging next week depending on how serious these injuries are.
How long before a national AFL reserves comp and a level playing field in the SANFL?
A very good win given the circumstances. Have no problem with maintaining possession and without a couple of fundamental mistakes in the forward line we have blokes walking into goal in the last quarter and a comfortable win. Well done to Brady, in elite company with 200 games at Norwood. 6 6 6 is a completely unnecessary distraction and just invites confusion and inconsistent officiating.
It’s certainly a big challenge next week. Tangling with the Power reserves is always a big deal especially at Alberton. Which brings me to ask how come the Wharfies get to play on a home ground when the Crows reserves always have to play away? The League always looks after Port
To come away with the points, the Legs will have to put in a 4 quarter effort – here’s hoping they do just that
Great win against the odds. Big game this week
A very close game but a good one to win in Dawe’s 200th. Great article!
Good call Mal, always tough down there. South are certainly good enough to win the flag ,so a win out there was gutsy. To the South players who formed a guard of honour for Brady Dawe’s 200th, what a fantastic gesture in sportsmanship. Congratulations Brady, a great achievement for a great club.
Bill yes the injuries v frustrating I admit I gave us v little chance at 3 q time.good gutsy win.The rules committees over the years have a lot to answer for how many have actually helped the game overall ?
Umpiring wise the stupidity to recruit and focus on athletes thinking that they could teach them about the game and how to umpire it instead of any one who had played adult footy a massive error let alone the bizarre and idiotic positioning now days is demoralizing to say the least.Michael well said,Fortis in Procella indeed.Andrew a Glenelg v Norwood gf is a possibility realistically probably depends how many injuries and how seriously the afl clubs take our competition,give us some warmth.Thanks TC.Fisho of those,Grigg is a chance to play.Ray huge achievement by Brady unfortunately we won’t be any where near full strength.
Boges there is no doubt we have been patchy and need to make significant improvement and need another running rebound player in defence overall this game was a step forward whether we are able to be competitive with a bloody afl side with v few injuries is another matter.Cameron it was a good win in the end.
Curtis with our injuries I thought it was fine our judgment when to take the game on during the process of holding on to the ball can definitely improve tho.Mark yes a lot of blow the bloody siren being uttered.thanks folks
Well done Book, a win down there is always good and to get the win in a milestone game with significant injury issues was impressive. Seems like the form is a bit patchy but still managing to record some wins. Massive challenge this week!
Tim Baulderstone and I made the trip down there for the first time ever, and glad we did. That moment when the final siren went was eerily similar to how the 2014 GF ended, with the same happy result! Great effort from Brady Dawe to crack the 200 club, thought we were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but fortunately the timekeepers were right on the ball. Next stop, Alberton. Another good write up Malcolm
Eric Yep should have mentioned,Cams hanger.Paul Sanfl umpiring has fallen away dramatically by towing the afl line lost our soul and ideals it was now just terrible like the afl imo bitterly disappointing.South looked the better team for quite a portion of the game big game this week,Paul.Martin well said yes points for and against re when we played keeping offs agree completely re Cole and Brady.Raf thank you and well played.
Jeff it stuns me re no afl reserves competition yet just bizarre and yes also ridiculous not to have a level playing field.Dave agree with every word as we no both afl and Sanfl will never admit they were wrong.
Fisho agree,100 per cent absolutely ridiculous and a disgrace that both afl teams do not have the same conditions of entry in to our competition.Raj and Campbell thank you.Greg brilliant by South Adelaide after the game immense respect.Willow it was a bloody good win will be a huge effort to win this week.Peter glad you and Tim made it down to Noarlunga I thought it was a healthy turn out of red and blue well done by the timekeepers and yep huge test,Sunday thanks folks
Great write up Rulebook, good win to the Redlegs.
Fantastic photos of Brady, am guessing 200 games is a less frequent achievement in the modern SANFL?
It’s now the day after the Power Seconds v Norwood game and, as expected, an injury depleted Norwood, although gallant, finally succumbed. With the Crows Seconds now firmly on top of the ladderlet’s hope my worst nightmare, a Crows v Power Grand Final in the SANFL – bloody ridiculous if it does occur.
It was most pleasing to see many of our lads doing well and hopefully, with the return of Panos, Bode and co, the Legs will challenge for top dog. GO LEGS.