Semi Final Coach’s Review

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy said he was proud of his playing group after earning a 34-point Semi Final win over Adelaide that saw the Redlegs book a spot in this week’s Preliminary Final against Glenelg.

Having struggled with slow starts in recent weeks, Norwood encountered no such troubles against the Crows, kicking three of the first four goals on the way to an impressive victory.

Coming out full of intent from the opening bounce, the Redlegs applied an incredible 30 tackles in the first term, which delighted Sheedy and his coaching staff.

“They (Adelaide) jumped us the last two times we had played them, so we needed to fix that, because they are a team that if you fuel their game early, they are a hard team to stop,” Sheedy said.

“We have obviously played well late in games, but we couldn’t afford to give good opposition a start, so we had a clear focus on some strategy around the first quarter and what we needed to do to be in the game at quarter time.”

“It was a clear plan throughout the whole week, especially with the leaders. We changed warm-ups and tried a few things.”

“We also went in with a bit more of a strategy around squeezing the contest and giving ourselves a chance early in the game around making it a bit more of a contested game and not allowing Adelaide to get on the outside.”

“We really nailed the contest, and off the back of that we kicked some pretty significant goals, and then from there we felt it looked like our game for a lot of it.”

Against an Adelaide side featuring 14 AFL-listed players, Sheedy was pleased with his team’s ability to execute the game plan and shut down the Crows’ key strengths.

“Our ability to nail forward half footy, get repeat stoppages inside our forward half and set up strongly behind the ball was important, because the Crows are a good side at being able to transition from defensive 50 to forward 50.”

“We had a really clear strategy around what that needed to look like, which was playing front-half footy and winning contest, and all of those little elements of our game need to tie in.

“I thought Finn (Heard) did a terrific job in the ruck and then our mids backed it up and got to work, and our forwards were able to bring the ball to ground and then our smalls held it in.”

Despite Norwood’s lead being seriously challenged on several occasions throughout the day, Sheedy was impressed with his side’s fitness and ability to run out the game.

“The group is fit, I know that. We say it each week, but we train really hard and we value the way we train during the week.”

“We do a lot of combative training during the week and some match sim, and the boys are running consistently throughout the week, which we feel sets us up to play a really good contested brand of footy on a big oval.”

Sheedy was also quick to praise the efforts of emerging forward Jayden Gale, who booted a career-high five goals against the Crows as one of Norwood’s best on the day.

“He is a great kid, Galey. He is very astute and a deep thinker of the game and he puts a lot of pressure on himself.”

“It is just a great reward for effort. He is out here (Coopers Stadium) practicing all the time and always reviewing the game and wanting to get better, and our forwards coaches have done a great job with him, and off the back of training and doing some work away from footy, he is starting to get the rewards now.”

Reliable defender Tom Donnelly was another to earn the plaudits of the coach, with the 2022 Premiership player locking down on big Crows forward Chris Burgess at full-back.

“Tom does an amazing job every week. He gets the best forward, and we felt Burgess was probably their best forward and a player that could take the game away from us, and once again, Tom did a great job.”

“It was the work up the field as well, and not allowing Adelaide out the front of stoppage and making them kick over fingertips and giving our backs a chance. We saw Pierce intercept on the weekend and Jack Heard be really strong in the air, so all of those things help as well.”

Donnelly sent a huge scare through the Norwood camp when he came off limping in the last quarter, but Sheedy revealed it only took several minutes before the tough defender wanted to go back on.

“He wanted to come back on, but I was pretty firm that he was staying there (on the bench),” Sheedy said with a grin.

“After four minutes he said he was good to go, but the game was in our control then, and he is a very important player to us, so it was time for him just to sit there and get ready for next week.”

Sheedy was also pleased with the work of his on-field leaders, with the Redlegs’ senior players helping to set the tone for the rest of the playing group.

“Pierce Seymour has had a career-best year, Jack Heard is playing some great footy, Jacob Kennerley has consistently had big moments in games, and Declan Hamilton has had a great year, so our four leaders have really stood up when it matters, and that’s what you need as a footy club.”

“It is a space we have really tried to grow and let the leaders be themselves and drive the football club.

“We (coaches) are obviously here to guide, teach and instruct, but ultimately the players have to play the game and to give them more autonomy throughout the week and on game day helps them be great leaders on the field.”

Sheedy also recognised the role of the leadership group in guiding the club’s younger players and maintaining a calm demeanor across the playing cohort.

“We mentioned before about the leaders being calm, and I think that does go through the group.”

“We have got a 17-year-old kid in Balyn O’Brien who has played a couple of finals now, and Charlie Molan, Connor Ling and Mitch Nicholas who haven’t been at the footy club and are now playing on Adelaide Oval, so I think just the temperament of the group is really controlled and we know what we need to do.”

Norwood now turn their attention to this week’s Preliminary Final battle against Glenelg, with Sheedy noting the challenge that is in front of them against the reigning premiers.

“Obviously, they are a great side and they have won the last two Premierships, so we respect them highly and feel that every time we play them it’s a really contested brand of footy.”

“They have got some serious weapons all over the field, and we’ll need to get our match-ups and strategy right throughout the week around how we can best get it out of their front half and into ours.

“We respect them a lot, but we don’t fear anyone at the moment. We feel that if we play our best footy we are good enough, and I think we’ve shown that over the last 15 weeks.

“While we hadn’t won against the good sides, the biggest margin we had lost by was three goals, and now we are starting to beat some teams above us on the ladder and we are building some good consistency throughout the group.”

Reflecting on the whirlwind journey from a 0-5 start to the preliminary final, Sheedy spoke with pride about the growth in the playing group in that time.

“We have never talked about finals and it’s never been on our radar. It has just been about playing our brand as much as we can and being in games.”

“We obviously had a slow start, but we got some players back and built some consistency and saw the growth and leadership of players. There have been small wins everywhere, and I think we’ve seen that in the likes of Finn Heard and Jayden Gale, who have really stepped up.”

While their focus will firmly remain on Glenelg this week, Sheedy also encouraged his players to enjoy the finals experience and embrace the excitement of playing September football.

“I think that is an important message to keep enjoying what we’re doing.”

“It is hard to play finals and hard to make prelim finals. It is a tough competition, and we’ve been able to do it through adversity this year.

“I think we have got eight players that played on the weekend that weren’t a part of last year’s finals campaign, so it’s a big change in our footy club but one we are embracing.

“We feel we are getting better each week with the development of young players coming through and the older heads really starting to take control on the field, so we just want our players to keep enjoying it.

“Footy is a great sport and one you play because you love it, and we don’t want the enjoyment to go out of it, so we’ll embrace everything that the week brings.

“The boys love playing on Adelaide Oval, and we feel we are really strong on the big decks, so we can’t wait as a footy club.”

Watch Jade Sheedy’s full interview here: