Redlegs fall in Round 1 Opener

The Norwood Football Club has fallen to West Adelaide in its Round One clash by 14-points at the Parade on Friday night.

Under new head coach Mat Creeper for the first time in 2021, the Redlegs unveiled several debutants including former Rooster Adrienne Davies and Eagle Tasharna Maher.

In what was a tight opening term, the Redlegs held dominance over their opposition early in the match generating several inside 50 entries. Despite the domination, West Adelaide hit Norwood on the counterattack and made no mistake of their first opportunity of the contest.

Veteran forward Kate Fenton hit back for the home side three minutes later as quarter time loomed with Norwood trailing by a point at the first break.

The second quarter proved again tightly contested as the engine rooms for both sides jostled for field position.

Despite, again being productive in creating opportunities, West Adelaide had the final say of the half as Madison Newman made no mistake to open the margin to seven-points.

With all to play for, West Adelaide were resolute in defence, taking intercept marks and pressuring Norwood’s forwards giving them no time to execute in front of goal.

Gretal Ramsey finished off some nice work by West Adelaide to increase the margin, giving the Redlegs a massive task heading into the final quarter.

Norwood showed plenty of fight in the final stanza, as debutant Liz Drake kicked her first Norwood goal from 45 metres out on a slight angle.

As they kept pushing, West Adelaide were equally up to the task as they were able to ice the game in the seventh minute as Bec Owen ran in to kick her first and all but seal the points for the visitors.

Norwood leadership group member Elisha Gallagher had 16 possessions while vice-captain Sophie Armitstead registered 14 to go with her five tackles and six clearances.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.4 (16)

WEST ADELAIDE: 1.2 2.3 3.4 4.6 (30)

GOALS: Drake, Fenton

BEST: Frost, Clark, Gould, Drake, Johnston, Maher