First Nations Round SANFL & SANFLW Teams

It’s a big week on the SANFL calendar, as the League and its clubs celebrate First Nations Round.

This year, the Norwood Football Club will wear a First Nations Round guernsey inspired by the club’s Regional Zone of the Eyre Peninsula, however, due to a guernsey clash with North Adelaide, Norwood will wear its traditional navy blue guernsey this weekend.

The Redlegs SANFL Men’s and SANFL Women’s sides will wear their First Nations Round guernsey next Sunday in games against the Eagles and Centrals respectively.

SANFL action returns this weekend following a League-wide bye due to last Saturday’s State Game in Perth, and the Redlegs take on North Adelaide across the board.

The Redlegs SANFL Men’s side is heading to Prospect Oval looking for its fifth consecutive win, in what will be the introduction of a new trophy, the RM Williams Cup, which will now be played annually between Norwood and North Adelaide – an initiative sparked by North’s partnership with RM Williams.

Kade Dittmar comes back into the Norwood lineup, following his two-match suspension, while Mitch Nicholas (return from concussion) and Max Hodges have been named on an extended bench.

In the Reserves (who are also aiming for a fifth straight win) Sam Simpson will play his first game for Norwood following a frustrating start to life at The Parade with a foot injury sustained in the pre-season, while Isaac Saywell will also play his first game of the year, returning from a hamstring injury.

Norwood’s SANFL Women’s side are also on a roll, looking for a fourth consecutive victory, and welcome defender Emily Bartsch, Lana Schwerdt and Amalie Innes back to the side. The Redlegs will host North at Coopers Stadium on Saturday, as the club celebrates Ashleigh Young, with the annual Brunch for the Ashleigh Young Scholarship.

Scroll down to see this weekend’s teams.

Norwood’s First Nations Round guernsey, which will be in rotation for the 2025 and 2026 seasons was inspired by the club’s Regional Zone of the Eyre Peninsula.

Whilst the clash with the Roosters is unfortunate, the club has opted for a red design to be able to showcase the guernsey more regularly as a clash strip against South Adelaide, Glenelg and West Adelaide, as well as First Nations Round.

The process commenced in November 2024, when the club hosted a football trip for 22 junior players from the Ceduna region on the Eyre Peninsula to visit Norwood.

The trip included a football match on Norwood Oval between the travelling players and Norwood’s U13 Metro Zone players for the “IWS Cup”, as well as an excursion to the Port Adelaide Football Club, the South Australian Museum, Marion, Rostrevor College and IWS’s Wingfield Processing Facility.

One of the trip’s activities included designing Norwood’s next First Nations Round guernsey, which the players took very seriously. From there, the club supplied the designs to Norwood apparel partner Belgravia, who came up with the final design.

The club thanks the Ceduna Youth Hub for their assistance in organising the trip, Belgravia and also club Platinum Partners IWS for supporting the initiative.