South too strong for Norwood juniors in Noarlunga

Norwood’s U18s and U16s were outplayed by South Adelaide at Magain Stadium in Noarlunga on Saturday.

The Redlegs were again faced with multiple changes from the previous week, as the squad continues to battle through the Adelaide College Football Season, as well as State Football selection.

Norwood’s Noah Daw, Jim Kelly, Balyn O’Brien, Fergus Myall and Sam Ainsworth have been involved in the State U18s squad, which is so far undefeated in the National U18 Championships, while Thomas Gribben, Charlie Best and Oliver Easton played for SA in the U16s over the weekend.

The Redlegs struggled in the U18s, going down 14.18-102 to 4.8-32 on Saturday.

Robert Varcoe kicked two goals for Norwood, while Micah Kretschmer and Captain Darcy Speyer each had 32 disposals.

Speyer also had nine clearances, and Kretchmer six for the Redlegs.

Ashton Hartwig had 27 touches and Levi Johnston 25, as Norwood had its fair share of disposals, and even won clearances 34-28 and tackles 54-45 but were outclassed around the ground, with the Panthers going inside 50m 58 times to the Redlegs’ 27.

It was a tighter contest in the U16s, as the Redlegs went down by 32 points, 14.9-93 to 9.7-61.

Norwood was in the game at half time, trailing by seven points, but South kicked away with five goals in the third quarter.

The Redlegs responded with four goals in the last term, but the second placed South proved too strong and ran away with its sixth win.