South loss makes it tough for Norwood’s SANFLW side

Norwood’s SANFLW side went down to South Adelaide by 15 points at Coopers Stadium on Sunday afternoon, making the Redlegs late finals push a little more tricky. 

A win over the Panthers would have had Norwood firmly in the box seat to land a finals place, but it wasn’t to be as the reigning premiers powered away in the last quarter to a 5.9-39 to 3.6-24 win.

Now with just two weeks to go in the regular season, Norwood is one of four teams vying for one finals spot despite sitting seventh on the ladder.

Sturt remains fifth with a 5-7 win-loss record, but are vulnerable with their weak percentage of 40, followed by Central District 4-8 at 46%, West Adelaide 4-8 at 45% and Norwood 4-8 at 42%.

The Redlegs face bottom placed Glenelg this Saturday, before a massive Round 14 match against Central District at Elizabeth which will likely be finals shaping.

On Sunday, Norwood did all it could against the second placed South Adelaide, but came up short as the visitors booted three goals to one in the final term.

15-year-old debutant Lani Cocks was outstanding for Norwood, with 14 disposals, three clearances, three tackles and one of the goals of the year, looking right at home at League level.

Emily Bartsch was Norwood’s best with 14 disposals, five marks and eight tackles, while Jade Halfpenny was the leading ball winner for the Redlegs with 21 disposals and seven tackles.

It was ominous signs early in the match as Norwood’s defence had to withstand nine South Adelaide inside 50m entries in the first 10 minutes, but held firm to keep the Panthers goalless in the first term.

Kicking with a strong breeze, the Redlegs managed to get their game going in the second half of the quarter and found six repeat inside 50m. But, this time it was the Panthers that defended with all they could.

Emma Clark and Halfpenny got into the game with eight and seven disposals respectively in the first term.

At quarter time, the scores were locked at 0.1-1 apiece, as South led the inside 50m count 11-7 and marks 14-8 as they tried to control the play.

The second quarter was again an arm wrestle, but South was able to find the first goal of the game through Jess Waterhouse.

At half time Norwood trailed by seven points, 1.4-10 to 0.3-3.

South ruck Soriah Moon was a problem for Norwood, having a big impact in the midfield with 13 disposals to half time. Moon finished the game with a game-high 25 disposals.

Norwood peppered the goals to start the third term, missing four chances before eventually finding its first major of the game through Kiana Lee.

Lee’s goal made it 1.5-11 to 1.4-10 in South’s favour.

The Panthers hit back as good sides do, finding three consecutive scoring shots, including a goal through Melissa Anderson to get the margin back out to nine points.

In her debut SANFLW game Cocks kicked one of the goals of the season, when she marked in front of the Premiers Bar, ran around her South defender on the mark and nailed a goal on the run.

Cocks’ goal came just before the final break, and put Norwood within three points at the final change 2.8-20 to 2.5-17.

The game was on a knife’s edge at three quarter time. Just three points in it, as South led the disposal-count by just one, Norwood led clearances by one and the inside 50m entries by two.

The Redlegs had done an outstanding job to halt the Panthers kick-mark game, with Norwood turning the tables to lead marks 37-31 at the final break.

Norwood had the run and the spark to start the final quarter.

The Redlegs couldn’t make the most of repeat inside 50m entries, and South managed to withstand the pressure in its backline.

The Panthers again slowed down the play, happy to possess the ball and transition slowly forward.

In the end, it was the Panthers who wore Norwood down, as Doreena Hansen kicked three goals in the final term. Her first made it a tough 10-point margin to track down.

Hansen booted a second goal soon after and the game was all-but done as the Panthers held a 16-point lead at the 12-minute mark.

Lee gave the Redlegs the slightest hope with a second goal late in the game, but Hansen went one better, kicking a third to round out the 15-point win.

Norwood 0.1, 0.3, 2.5, 3.6 – 24

South Adelaide 0.1, 1.4, 2.8, 5.9 – 39

Goals: Lee 2, Cocks

Best: Bartsch, Halfpenny, Jaques, Cocks, Cameron, Clark