Elimination Final Coach’s Review

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy says his team has built great belief following a stirring 18-point Elimination Final victory over Central District at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

The Redlegs were again forced to recover an early deficit after conceding the first three goals of the game, but stormed home with a six-goal final term to seal a berth in this week’s First Semi Final against Adelaide.

Having overrun their opponents in each of the past four matches, Sheedy told The Redlegs Review podcast that there is growing confidence in the group’s fitness and determination late in games.

“I think the last month we have come from behind, and our fitness is at a really strong level and our ability to play every contest and every minute of the game is strong,” Sheedy said.

“That will hold us in good stead and gives the group the belief that no matter where we are positioned in the game, we can overrun opposition if we need to.”

“The boys train really hard. Scott Bassett does an unbelievable job as our strength and conditioning coach, and we’re in a good space with all of that, so it gives good confidence on a big oval in high-intensity games that we can outrun opposition.”

However, Sheedy remains wary of relying on strong second-half performances and is keen to see his team get off to better starts.

“Probably the last couple of weeks we have started slow, so we need to have a look at that and address that.”

“We feel a lot of it is probably mindset early in games and being able to be proactive at the start of the game and challenge the opposition.

“We have probably been a bit reactive over the last month and been a bit flat-footed, and then once we have that chat the players are hunting the footy a little bit more.”

In a game of big momentum swings, Sheedy was impressed with his team’s ability to get the game back on their terms against a quality opponent.

“They got on top around the contest in the first quarter, and we were able to reverse that in the second quarter and were really strong in the contest and played the game a lot in our forward half.”

“The third quarter was a bit more balanced. With all due respect, we felt we gave them two or three goals with some uncharacteristic skill errors and moments we would like back, but that’s footy.

“Going into the last quarter, I guess we knew that we had it in us to be able to outrun opposition, and I felt the first five minutes in that last quarter, Nik Rokahr and our mids got busy and it sort of slowly started to turn and by halfway through the quarter it looked like a really strong performance.”

Sheedy was also quick to acknowledge the efforts of fifth-gamer Max Hodges, who played a crucial defensive forward role on Bulldogs interceptor Rhett Montgomerie and blunted his impact.

“Montgomerie is a very good intercept marker, and we felt that Central generate a lot of their ball movement from their back half and catching the footy, so for us it was about maximising how we could curb that influence, and that was around playing someone on him.”

“Max played as a back all year, but he has played as a forward previously and kicked goals at reserves level, and he was super. He is diligent, a great teammate and the boys love playing with him.

“He was pretty excited to play and stuck to the task and did a really good job and then got rewarded in the end by kicking a goal.”

Another player who earned the praises of Sheedy was reliable full-back Tom Donnelly, who played a sublime shutdown role Central star Aiden Grace and kept him to just one goal and two marks.

“We admire Tommy and the way he goes about it and gets the job done every week.”

“Footy teams are made up of all different individuals who have to play different roles and he plays a thankless task for us each week where he has to nullify the opposition’s best forward.

“He has had a really big three or four weeks playing on key forwards for the opposition, and we have great confidence in him that he will get the job done each time.”

Now on a four-game winning streak, Sheedy is pleased with where his playing group is at and the momentum that has been built across the second half of the season.

“The group is in a good space. We have complete trust in each other and what we’re doing.”

“Our conditioning is good, players are coming in and playing significant roles and I think we’re building.

“We have won four games in a row now and our second half of the year has been really strong. Central was the first team above us on the ladder we had beaten this year, so that was a good win on the weekend.”

Sheedy also noted the positive signs in Norwood’s game plan and its ability to hold up under the pressure of finals footy, evidenced by the scintillating final-quarter display against the Bulldogs.

“I guess when you come into a club, you try and build a game plan that is for all seasons, and one of those seasons is finals if you can get there.”

“We play on the smallest deck in the competition, so we like to play a contested brand, but we also like to be able to get the ball in motion and use our hands and use the width of the ground and try to add some different offensive elements to our game.

“That has given us the ability to hit the scoreboard, and we kicked six goals in the last quarter and we’ve played quarters this year that have been quite powerful, so it gives us good belief that if we get our contest right and we can get the ball on the outside, we can do some damage with our legs.”

Norwood now turn their focus to a huge First Semi Final clash with the Adelaide Crows on Sunday afternoon, with Sheedy embracing the challenge of facing one of the league’s most in-form teams.

“We have had some good clashes against the Crows both times this year.”

“I thought in Port Lincoln they were a bit more superior. We had a lot more inside 50s and the wind played a bit of a part.

“The last time we played them here (Coopers Stadium), they got a hold of us in the first 15 minutes, but the rest of the game looked like a Norwood game, so we take a lot of great belief out of that that we can match them.

“It is a great challenge to play against AFL players, and there will no doubt be a few of them playing this week, and they’ve got great strengths all over the field.

“They are very good in the centre square and they’ve got a good ruckman and some good mids. Finn (Heard) is in some great form for us, and we’ve got some great mids in there as well, so it’s going to start in the centre bounce and in the middle of the ground.

“We will go in with the mindset that it is a great challenge. We feel that we’ve got a lot of good players and a lot of good things going at our footy club, so we won’t fear them, but we’ll definitely respect them.”

The game will also mark 2022 Premiership defender Pierce Seymour’s 100th SANFL league appearance, with Sheedy taking the opportunity to recognise his contribution to the club and his value to Norwood’s defensive unit.

“It is a great story. I think it is a good story for our playing group and the wider SANFL community.”

“He was at Adelaide originally as a top-up and then went to the Eagles and has been at Norwood for the last four years and played in a premiership, and his footy has just got better and better as he has got older.

“He has got great courage in the air and throws himself at the footy, and we will celebrate that in the right manner this week because he has been a great player and a great teammate for Norwood.”

Watch Jade Sheedy’s full interview here: