Bode – Our best is still to come

NORWOOD Captain Jace Bode believes the Redlegs best football is still to come, after falling to back to back defeats for the first time in almost year.

After winning their first five games of Season 2019, the Redlegs have fallen to Adelaide and the Eagles in the past fortnight however, the bye has proven timely for the Legs as they look to reset and head into a massive second half of the year.

“We had a really positive meeting/review following the Eagles match last Saturday,” Bode said.

“We’ve looked to just hit the reset button to be pretty honest.

“We’ve tinkered with a few things from 2018 and are looking to get back to being really aggressive with our ball movement and structures around the ground.

“No doubt we will change a few things to make sure we are comfortable in the direction we are heading for the remainder of the season.

After leading at certain stages throughout the year, Bode believes moment lapses in quarters are restricting Norwood from shutting down opposition sides.

“Looking at the GPS numbers post games, they have been really good,” said Bode.

“However, we have had guys that have spent a lot of tickets in the first half playing pretty important roles and haven’t been able to quite sustain that intensity for the whole four quarters.

“There’s a few things structurally that we are going to change to make sure that’s not the case going forward.

“I think momentum is a big thing in footy and with the new rules it’s really tough to stop oppositions when they get a run on.

“We need to get better at shutting the game down and identifying those moments and halting momentum, making sure we get it back going our way.

Norwood could see several players return from injury over the next couple weeks, giving the selectors a tough task ahead.

“It’s certainly going to cause a headache for selectors,” Bode said.

“(Matt) Nunn is looking sharp, I reckon he’ll be up for selection providing he doesn’t get picked up in the mid-season draft.

“Anthony Wilson is a chance to return providing he gets through training and I’m probably 50-50 to return.

“It would be great to a few of those guys in to assist with our depth so that we can attack Westies next Friday night.”

Bode said that Norwood are still in a good position, sitting fourth and believes Norwood’s best is still to come.

“If you look at the glass half full, we still sit in a pretty good position on the ladder,” Bode said.

“I think our best is still to come, however we need to work hard to get the best out of ourselves each week.

“We can still improve and hopefully tinkering with things over the bye will help us for longer and get us back to playing the type of brand similar to last year.”