Coach’s Review Round 7

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy has remained positive in the face of a thrilling 11-point defeat to second-placed Central District at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.

The Redlegs controlled much of the contest and won the inside 50 count, disposals, marks, tackles and scoring shots, but were left to rue wasted chances in attack, kicking 10.13-73 to the Bulldogs’ 13.6-84.

While frustrated at the inability to convert in front of goal, Sheedy has been pleased with his team’s recent form and is steadfast that wins are not far away.

“Our form is building without getting wins, which is highly frustrating for all of us,” Sheedy said.

“We have seen some growth over the last month and played a really good side in Central, and it’s been a bit of a consistent theme for us probably the last couple of weeks, just around making sure we capitalise when we get our chance, and we didn’t early again.”

“We probably kicked the ball a bit too long inside 50 and got rushed early, and then had some really good plays which we could have maximised our scoring opportunities, and we didn’t and went into half time 3.11 to 4.4.”

After going 17 points down midway through the last quarter, Sheedy was proud of his team’s ability to fight back and get within five points at the final bell.

“Credit to the boys, we continued to fight and were still five points in the game late and locked the ball in our front half quite heavily in the last quarter, and they defended well and we just couldn’t capitalise on our inside forward 50s.”

Sheedy was also pleased with Norwood’s start to the game, which saw the home team register seven scoring shots in the opening term while keeping the Bulldogs scoreless.

“We were dominating the game early, which, prior to probably the Eagles in Round 2 and South last week, we probably hadn’t got off to great starts, so it was really good against a good team to get off to a really fast start.”

Another area of optimism for Sheedy is Norwood’s pressure and ability to lock the ball in their forward half, highlighted by an 86-56 advantage in tackles.

“We play a lot of Friday night games and play on a really small deck, so we want to play a certain way where we can get the ball inside our front half and keep it in there as long as we can.

“I can’t fault the endeavour and the boys’ commitment to each other and the club, it’s just being better in front of the big sticks and finishing our chances.”

After battling an ankle injury since the start of the season, ruckman Luke Surman made a successful return through the reserves on Friday night, with Sheedy impressed with his performance.

“Luke had done a fair bit of training, but I guess in terms of joining in match simulation and some football-related training he hadn’t done a lot, so we thought it was the best opportunity on the weekend to play in the development side and get some minutes into him and he obviously went very strong, touched the ball 26 times and we know what he can do when he’s up and going.

“He can be a really strong ruckman in the competition, and it will give us the flexibility to be able to play Finn (Heard) a bit more ahead of the ball, which we haven’t had all year, so some good discussions at match committee which we are looking forward to.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s clash with West Adelaide at Richmond, Sheedy has identified the Bloods’ contested work as a key area to stop.

“Westies knocked off North a few weeks ago, and I know the way Harts (West Adelaide coach Adam Hartlett) coaches. They are really strong and combative around the contest, and that’s what we’ll face this week, and we need to prepare the best we can for whoever we play and be ready to play our best footy.”

With the AFL mid-season draft to take place on Wednesday night, young gun Jacob Newton has received plenty of interest from AFL clubs, however, Sheedy remains unsure if he will be selected.

“He is definitely being looked at, as a number of kids would have been in SA. You don’t really know, the recruiters never give away too much. There have been a couple of clubs talk to us about a number of players… so I guess as a footy club we’re not sure, but if I’m a gambling man I’d think he’s maybe gone, but we don’t know.”

Watch Jade Sheedy’s full interview below: