Match Report: Sturt too strong for Norwood in the wet

Norwood hosted rivals Sturt at Coopers Stadium on a drizzly Easter Thursday, but it was the Double Blues who ran away with a 53-point victory.

The Redlegs trailed by just six points at half time, before Sturt kicked 11 goals to three in the second half to secure a 16.10-106 to 8.5-53 win.

Nik Rokahr had 32 disposals, 13 clearances and seven tackles in the wet conditions, while Jacob Kennerley laid 11 tackles and Matt Nunn 10 tackles.

Harry Boyd had 15 disposals, 55 hitouts and 12 clearances, while Ben Jarvis booted three goals and was named as Norwood’s best on ground.

Senior Coach Jade Rawlings was disappointed with the Thursday night loss, as the side was hoping to bounce back from its 46-point loss to the Eagles in Round 1.

“We aren’t playing well fundamentally,” he said.

“We have played two teams that have been red-hot and that’s part of it but we haven’t fought for long enough, haven’t been able to resist when the momentum has been against us and haven’t been able to maximise our time with the ball.

“We are not playing well, there is a large gap between now and when we play next so there is time to audit and look at where our game is at, capture what we need to put more work into and work out the best shape of our team, because it’s out of whack.

“I believe in what we do because it stacks up, but equally when it’s not working you have to look at it closely.

“This is the most underwhelming start we could have had – two games in six days at home, and not being able to perform is frustrating. We will look at it and work out what the best plan is before North Adelaide.”

The game didn’t start well for Norwood, giving up the first goal in the opening minute of the game through multiple 25m penalties.

Following this the first quarter was a hot, physical, close contest and as the drizzle tumbled down the Redlegs attacked the goalface, and were rewarded at the 10-minute mark when Declan Hamilton goaled from the paint of 50m.

Sturt returned serve immediately with its own strike from the 50m line, through Oliver Grivell.

Sturt could have had a couple more goals if it wasn’t for two desperate goal saving acts through Jack Heard, Thomas Donnelly and Declan Hamilton in defence.

Norwood defended gallantly for several repeat inside 50m entries, but Sturt eventually got its third goal on the board through a Josh Hone snap in front of Coopers Hill.

The Double Blues added a fourth not long after to make for an ideal start for the visiting side, leading by 19 points.

Jarvis snapped through a much needed Redlegs goal late in the first term to make it a 13-point Sturt lead at quarter time.

Sam Morris and Rokahr led the way for the Redlegs at quarter time with six disposals, and while most of the stat lines were even, Sturt claimed the important clearance (15-12) and inside 50m (14-10) numbers.

The rain started to tumble heavier in the second term, and Norwood was lucky that Sturt squandered two gettable set shots in the early minutes.

The Redlegs were hanging on as the ball lived in Sturt’s forward half with a 8-0 inside 50m-entry count in the first 10 minutes, but it equated to four behinds for the Double Blues.

The dam wall finally broke and Sturt’s persistence paid off with the first goal of the second term through Steven Slimming, helping his team go ahead by 24 points.

The Redlegs needed a response and they pounced on a Sturt turnover on Norwood’s half forward line. Jarvis pressured the Sturt defender as he tried to gather and Norwood worked it back to him (Jarvis) for a set shot goal.

The Redlegs all of a sudden sprung to life and had two goals in two minutes when Matthew Ling ran into an open goalsquare.

Logan Evans’ first goal was an early season highlight as he struck a long, high shot that floated through in front of the Wolf Blass Community Centre.

Suddenly it was back to a six-point half time deficit, 5.8-38 to 5.2-32.

Sturt responded after half time with three goals in four minutes, undoing all the hard work Norwood put in pre-break and re-instating the four-goal Double Blues lead.

The Redlegs found another response when Luke Surman goaled from a set shot, and Tristan Binder narrowly missed an identical one a minute later.

Norwood was forcing the ball forward at all costs, and Jack Saunders snapped through the Redlegs seventh goal, and the game was back to 10 points.

It was Sturt’s turn to respond, and it again came in a flurry with two late goals, including one in the final seconds of the third term. This took Sturt’s lead to 22 points at the final break.

Sturt sent the nail in the coffin with three goals early in the final term, and ran out comfortable winners with six last quarter goals.

Norwood 2.1, 5.2, 7.5, 8.5 – 53

Sturt 4.2, 5.8, 10.9, 16.10 – 106

Goals: Jarvis 3, Evans, Hamilton, Ling, Saunders, Surman

Norwood faced the reigning premiers, Sturt, in its Round 2 SANFL Reserves clash on Friday evening at Coopers Stadium, with the Double Blues proving too strong running out 51-point winners.

The Double Blues claimed a 12.8-80 to 3.11-29 win.

Sturt led two goals to four in a low-scoring first half, but Sturt ran away from Norwood in a defiant third term, where the visitors banged home four unanswered goals.

Lachie Pascoe booted two goals for the Redlegs, and Xavier Tranfa was the other goal scorer.

It was a close first term, with the ball moving freely between the centre square for both sides.

Norwood booted the first goal through Lachlan Pascoe, but Sturt had the next two to claim a five-point lead at quarter time.

The Double Blues managed the first goal of the second quarter through Luke Giacometti to get out to an 11-point break at the two-minute mark.

From that point both sides locked down, and the game went goalless for the next 19 minutes, as goal scoring opportunities dried up.

Norwood had the ball in its forward half, but couldn’t penetrate Sturt’s last line of defence.

It took a strong, contested mark from Pascoe to break the deadlock, as he converted from 25m to bring the margin back to three points.

Sturt answered back immediately with a set shot through Tye Bedford.

Liam Robinson and Tyson Walls led the disposal count for Norwood at half time with 11, while Pascoe had both of the Redlegs goals at the main break.

The half time score was 4.3-27 to 2.5-17 in Sturt’s favour.

Norwood looked the most threatening early in the third term, but again struggled to put it on the board.

The Redlegs were punished on the rebound with Sturt booting the first to goals of the second half, extending their lead to 22 points.

Sturt kicked another one late in the term through Chad Reschke, to make it a 29-point lead, which proved important in the low-scoring tussle.

The Double Blues kicked a fourth unanswered goal for the quarter and led by 32 points at three quarter time, despite leading the scoring shots by just two 14 to 12 (8.6-54 to 2.10-22)

Sturt ran away with the win in a four goals to one final term.

Norwood 1.3, 2.5, 2.10, 3.11 – 29

Sturt 2.2, 4.3, 8.6, 12.8 – 80

Goals: Pascoe 2, Tranfa