Under 18 Match Report – Norwood defeat Dogs

AFTER seven weeks it was pleasing to see the boys finally put together the right level of execution that was needed to finish off our good work in general play, to break the run of consecutive losses.

With another four debutants taking their chances in the Red and Blue, the boys got off to a hot start kicking five goals quickly in the first quarter – however late drops in our focus allowed the Centrals boys to get a score in red time which allowed them to carry some momentum heading into the second.

As has happened in almost every game this year, after establishing a strong lead early in the piece, our attention to detail and our overall endeavour dropped off – becoming complacent with the lead. Centrals were able to take control of the stoppage and then generate consecutive entries which put our young defence under pressure. Heading into the main break we had conceded our lead and went in just behind on the scoreboard.

What was most pleasing above any win alone, was our response after the break. The game was an arm wrestle with two sides desperate to win a game – and in previous weeks where we would have gone into our shells and played scared the boys stuck by each other and the processes we train.

In the end, we stood strong under the pressure of Centrals and were able to end up peppering the goals in the final quarter – unfortunately, missing more opportunities than we created. While there were some individual standouts, namely Connor Kent (39 disposals, three goals from the midfield and the week’s SANFL U18 MVP) and Jett Boxer (20 disposals and 3.3 goals) – the most pleasing part for us was the all-round team performance.

Seeing seven or eight role players execute their jobs effectively and the team all galvanising without needing to be passengers to the few – it was a great sign moving forward. Heading into the bye round, the boys are full of confidence again and itching to get back out there desperate to showcase what we know we are capable of no matter the ladder, no matter the scoreboard – we will continue to strive to be the best versions of ourselves.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 5.1 7.3 10.9 14.16 (100)

CENTRALS: 2.2 7.5 9.5 10.7 (67)

GOALS: Boxer 3, Kent 3, De Luca 2, Pitt 2, Gale, Jones, Trevor

BEST: Connor Kent, Jett Boxer, Calem Krollig, Peter Minervini, Aidan Lake, Bailey Gal.