“A lot to work on” – Round 4 Coach’s Review

Norwood General Manager of Football Dan Menzel admits the Redlegs still have “a lot to work on” despite a gritty seven-point win over Port Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.

The hosts overcame a gallant Magpies outfit and a sluggish opening half to eventually take the points and move to a 2-2 record in a game that never reached any major heights.

Speaking to The Redlegs Review podcast, Menzel reflected with mixed emotions about the Redlegs’ opening month of the campaign.

“I think we’ve had four pretty close games where the results could have gone either way, so I think 2-2 is probably a fair reflection,” Menzel said.

“We are playing some ok footy without hitting our straps in all facets of the game, so there is definitely a bit to work on for the coaching group and things that we are going to work on over the coming weeks and months.”

Commenting on the scrappy nature of Friday night’s contest, Menzel was quick to acknowledge the pressure Port Adelaide brought, which persisted throughout the evening.

“Credit has to go to Port Adelaide. They haven’t been one of the better teams this season, and they haven’t had access to a lot of AFL-listed players, but their top-up players were outstanding on the weekend. They brought the heat and were right in the game.”

“Every team has done this to us this year and lifted against us, and playing Friday night footy usually gets that result. South Adelaide were pretty good as well, and their pressure was much higher than it has been, so there are no surprises that Port did the same.

While the game was certainly not one for the highlights reel, Menzel was glad to grind out a tough win and resist the significant pressure offered by the Magpies.

“You certainly try to play perfect footy or close to it, but you’ve got to remind yourself sometimes that the opposition was pretty good, so to withstand that pressure and then perform off the back of that in parts of the game is really pleasing, so you’re going to get wins that are pretty tough.”

“To be able to win against the old rival is really important. We ended up having seven more scoring shots than them, so the margin could have been a little bit greater, but a win is a win at the end of the day.”

Going into half time 11 points in arrears, Menzel noted that the coaching staff were forced into some changes at the main interval to help turn the tide.

“It took a little bit of investigation at half time to figure out what they were doing really well and what we were doing poorly. They had 79 marks at half time, which is far too many. You are not going to win too many games defending 158 marks for the night, because that is a lot of time spent chasing your opponent.”

“They still took a lot of marks in the second half, but we didn’t allow them to get any forward momentum with those marks, so that was something we adjusted at half time.

“They were also better around the contest and they won some key contests in the first half, so to clean that up but also test them with the footy and keep them to 1.3 was really pleasing as a defensive unit for our whole team.”

With Port Adelaide AFL-listed midfielder Will Lorenz racking up 40 disposals, Menzel gave an insight into the discussions in the coaching box about whether to tag him.

“It is definitely something that we look at and monitor. The challenging part is we were also aware of Jack Watkins, who has played AFL in recent weeks, so you can’t lock down on everyone.”

“You want the mids in there to play a hard, balanced game where they beat their opponent and they are conscious of their opponent, but it is hard to tag multiple players and we were very aware of Watkins early in the game and then Lorenz got off the chain a bit.

“It is something as a midfield group we’ve got to keep nailing and not allow anyone to beat us individually while also putting the right time into the right players.”

Midfield star Nik Rokahr was every bit as effective for Norwood, collecting 33 disposals, six inside 50s and four clearances in a standout performance.

“He has been running hot for the best part of four weeks now. He has had an outstanding season for us and we know what we are going to get from him every week. He has that balance of outside and inside and gets the job done against his opponent every week, so he is in some super form at the moment.”

For the second consecutive week, Norwood kicked clear with a defining third quarter, booting three goals to nil in a patch of football that impressed Menzel.

“To come out and have seven shots at goal and kick three goals in the third while keeping them goalless was pleasing. It shows that our game stands up, but we just need to do it for a bit longer and try to iron out those inconsistencies in our game.”

Kicking a wasteful 9.14 for the night and 0.5 in the last term, Norwood’s accuracy in front of goal again proved an issue that Menzel acknowledged needs more work.

“We have been doing plenty of work on that since before the season started, and it is something I was alerted to since day one that the goalkicking at Norwood hasn’t been great for a few years.”

“There are a couple of factors in that. The first is the pressurised nature of our games, and on the back of that, you don’t get a lot of easy shots in comparison to other games.

“It is also about where we have been taking our shots, and they have been a bit more challenging, but the last two weeks we’ve been getting into better spots.

“We did miss a couple shots we should have kicked, but it probably wasn’t as bad as it was last weekend against South. We did some work last night as a group at the northern end of the ground, because we have struggled to kick goals at that end, so that is one we will look into a bit more.”

The win came at a cost on the injury front, with wingman Mitch Nicholas suffering a concussion in the first term that will see him miss the next two games with the concussion protocols.

“Mitch will be ok, but obviously with the 21-day protocol he will miss a bit of footy, but we’re looking forward to seeing him back in a couple of games.

Nicholas is the latest addition to a growing injury list, which Menzel took the opportunity to provide an update on.

“Matthew Ling (collarbone) is not far away. He is optimistic it is only going to be a couple of weeks, and that will be huge to add him back into the backline.”

“Harry Boyd’s (hand) recovery is a bit longer than we would have hoped. He and Mitch O’Neill (hamstring) will be out for a considerable length of time. Realistically, it won’t be anywhere in the next 4-6 weeks, and we will make sure they are right for the pointy end of the season.

“Henry Turner (ankle) will probably put his hand up this week. We haven’t seen him play yet, so it will be fantastic to see him running around.

“Sam Simpson (foot) is hopefully not far off either. He is another one who will put on the Norwood guernsey for the first time.”

“Henry Holdom (hamstring) is just a bit of a watch-and-wait at the moment. He is a big boy, and that’s putting a lot of stress on his back and hamstrings, so we’ve got a bit of work to do there to hopefully get him back out on the track and playing.”

With several key players already on the sidelines, Menzel spoke about the toll those unavailabilities can have on the team’s performance.

“We can’t underestimate the impact that individuals can have on a team, so to have Harry Boyd, Matthew Ling, Jackson Callow and a few other guys miss games does definitely weaken your side.”

“It is about how you navigate those injuries when they happen, and the depth of your squad is really important with that, and it pays dividends for the teams that have that depth.

“There is also a bit of luck involved as well, because if you have five of your 12 best players out it can be difficult to compete.”

On top of the injuries, Norwood will also be without midfield star Kade Dittmar for the next fortnight after receiving a two-week suspension for a tackle on Port’s Tom Anastasopoulos.

“Unfortunately, Anastasopoulos got concussed in the tackle, so we knew that it wasn’t going to end well for Kade, and he has got a couple of weeks from the MRP, which we have accepted. We know that if you concuss another player, as unlucky as it was in this case, then you are going to be up against it with the suspension.”

These absences will open the door for at least two reserves players to earn an opportunity at league level, with Menzel nominating several candidates who have put themselves in the frame following strong performances in the seconds.

“Daniel Gauci gets it done on the inside of the contest really well and we know what we’re going to get from him. Jim Kelly has been playing some really good footy coming up from the U18s and he adds that inside and outside balance, so he won’t be far away. Liam Ling’s form has been outstanding and he has been able to hit the scoreboard as well as play in the midfield.”

“Jett Dahlitz has been super down back, and Oliver Sanders and Alex Swinnerton have been very good across half forward in the reserves, so there are a number of guys who are knocking the door down and will give us some tough but great conversations.”