Oh so close! Norwood go down in Prelim

Norwood has fallen devastatingly short of a fairytale Grand Final berth, going down by two points to Glenelg in Sunday’s Preliminary Final at the Adelaide Oval.

The game’s margin never got beyond 12 points in a thrilling finals contest to decide who was going to take on Sturt in next Sunday’s decider… but it will be the Tigers who progressed through with the 8.9-57 to 7.13-55 victory.

The game was on the boot of Norwood forward Tristan Binder, who marked the ball 40m out at the Northern End with one minute to go. Binder – the Redlegs leading goal kicker in 2025 – missed the set shot to the left, and the Bays were able to cling on by the barest of margins, and contest for their third straight Premiership.

The Redlegs can hold their heads high in defeat, having started the season with five consecutive losses, clawing their way slowly back into finals contention, winning their last three matches of the home and away season to qualify, before knocking Central District and Adelaide out in the Elimination and Semi Finals.

But, the fairytale ended on Sunday, concluding a season that had everything under first-year coach Jade Sheedy.

Norwood won the toss in the Prelim and kicked towards the Riverbank End with a reasonably strong breeze in the first term.

The game started exactly the way you would expect a Preliminary Final to start – it was a hard, tough, congested, contested brand of finals football.

Ball movement was difficult, with neither team able to transition the ball from end to end with any ease throughout the first half, which was all square at half time 4.3-27 (Glenelg) to 3.9-27 (Norwood).

After 30 first quarter tackles last week, Norwood kept up its pressure early in the Prelim, laying 24-19 tackles in the opening term.

Finn Heard was on top in the ruck, winning hitouts and helping Norwood win clearances 11-7 (F. Heard had three clearances himself), but around the ground Glenelg controlled disposals 91-74.

Jonty Scharenberg had 10 disposals and Luke Partington eight, while seven players had six touches, including Billy Cootee, Jacob Kennerley, Matthew Ling and Pierce Seymour.

Amazingly four of the five goals kicked in the first term came from the goal square, and Glenelg went into quarter time leading 3.2-20 to 2.4-16.

There was just no flow to start the game, and that continued in the second quarter as both sides made skill and decision errors.

The side that could compose themselves first was in the box seat.

Lachie Hosie kicked another goal from the goal square and Norwood had three golden opportunities to convert set shots, but missed to make it a frustrating 4.3-27 to 2.8-20.

Norwood had kicked 0.4 to start the second term, and the game needed some composure and class… AKA Baynen Lowe. Lowe was on the end of the first passage of play that transition from defensive 50m to forward 50m, and nailed the long set shot into the wind.

The Redlegs had another chance to take the lead a minute later, but missed to make it 1.5 for the quarter to Glenelg’s 1.1.

At half time, it was all square 4.3-27 to 3.9-27, and it was very tight across the field. Both sides had 160 disposals for the half, while Norwood led tackles 35-28, clearances 16-12, hitouts 17-13, inside 50m 29-21 and looked the better side at different stages but couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard.

Scharenberg had 18 touches and Corey Lyons 15, while Cooper Murley led Norwood’s tally with 14.

After Norwood squandered multiple chances in the second quarter, Glenelg made them pay in the third with back to back set shots from Hosie and Liam McBean to make it a handy match-high 12-point lead.

On the ropes, Norwood turned the game on its head with a momentum changing goal to Cootee. Then the Redlegs did their best to stuff up a certain walk in goal, but Jayden Gale tidied it up on the goal line to put Norwood in front for the first time since early in the first term.

Norwood looked the more composed team, and made the most of it with a third successive goal to Nik Rokahr to make it a six-point lead at the final break, 6.11-47 to 6.5-41.

It was all to play for, and with all their experience the back-to-back reigning premiers settled quickly into the final term with early goals to Matthew Allen and McBean to reclaim the lead. The Tigers had seven scoring shots in a row and got themselves out to a nine-point buffer with 10 minutes to play.

Hosie let Norwood off the hook, missing a set shot he would have normally gobbled up, and Norwood went down the other end to goal through Charlie Molan.

With just three points in it, the last eight minutes was a mad scramble, with no real method to go with the desperation. Both teams needed to get through to the final day.

It all came down to the Binder set shot, which cruelly faded to the left and the siren sounded not long after the kick in, sending the Tigers through to the decider.

Rokahr put in another outstanding performance with 29 disposals, seven tacckles and a goal, while Cootee rounded out a strong campaign with 22 disposals and two goals.

Norwood 2.4, 3.9, 6.11, 7.13 – 55

Glenelg 3.2, 4.3, 6.5, 8.9 – 57 

Goals: Cootee 2, Molan 2, Gale, Lowe, Rokahr

Best: Rokahr, Cootee, Molan, Murley, Nicholas