Round 16 Coach’s Review > Redlegs Review Podcast

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy said his side is ruing a slow start and poor conversion at goal following a narrow 20-point loss to Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

Sheedy joined The Redlegs Review Podcast this week, listen to the full episode here.

Despite registering the same number of scoring shots and winning the inside 50, clearance and tackle counts on the day, the Redlegs kicked a wasteful 8.15 as numerous chances went begging.

While Norwood largely had the Crows’ measure through the middle of the game, Sheedy was disappointed with the Redlegs’ start and finish to the contest.

“They were good early, and we weren’t, which was probably the game in the end,” Sheedy told The Redlegs Review podcast.

“We started well and had some missed opportunities, and then they got on a roll and you saw some of their AFL talent really shine through those 20 minutes.”

“Probably the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the game were the most disappointing parts of our game. We had a good review and the boys really understood what it looked like on Saturday around that.”

While playing at a consistent level across all four quarters remains a big focus, Sheedy remains positive about the football his team is producing.

“For us, it’s about making sure we start well and be in the contest from the first minute to the last minute, which we have done pretty well over a 10-week block now.

“I think our game is in good order. We are really hard to play against and really hard to score against. On the weekend, I reckon it was probably 10 minutes of footy and then missed opportunities that hurt us.”

Sheedy also lamented some poor kicking in front of goal, which severely hampered the Redlegs’ hopes of reeling in the early deficit.

“Points in a game of footy can always be taken out of context because they can be long points, rushed or kicked from bad positions, but this game really hurt because we had the ball in good areas on five or six occasions and just couldn’t finish.”

Despite the final result, Sheedy was pleased with the output of his midfielders, who won the clearance count against an Adelaide midfield featuring several AFL-listed stars.

“I was really proud of our boys. Our mids really got to work, and we showed we could match it with some AFL talent.”

“(Sid) Draper’s a first-round draft pick and he’s going to be a great player for the Crows, (Matt) Crouch has come back from injury and is going well, (Harry) Schoenberg was in there as well and then (Luke) Pedlar has played some good AFL footy, and our boys really matched it with them for long periods of the game.”

A standout performer for Norwood on the day was dashing half-back Matthew Ling, who racked up a career-high 35 disposals and six marks as he offered plenty of run and carry from defence.

“We really want to use him through the corridor and get him running, and as you can see, he is damaging between the arcs when he’s got the ball,” Sheedy told The Redlegs Review podcast.

“With the way he runs and the way he uses the ball, the more we can get him the ball in the corridor and let him run and distribute, the better we are going to be.”

Another strong contributor on the day was small defender Alastair Lord, who earned plenty of praise from Sheedy for his leadership and commitment.

“He is a great kid, Lordy, and I think he’s going to be a future leader of our footy club. We have changed his role a little bit this year and are trying to get him up the field a little bit more.”

“We love his speed and ability to run, much like Matthew. They are both real weapons for our footy club, and I think obviously with Cooper Murley as well, who plays a bit deeper for us now in a more lockdown role, we’ve had a few different looks this year and trying to advance people’s games personally.”

The loss to Adelaide continues a trend of exchanging wins and losses each week dating back to Round 6, with Norwood yet to put together consecutive wins so far this season.

“It has been frustrating. If you take the first five rounds out, after that we have gone 5-5 and I think the biggest losing margin has been 20 points and an average of 14 over those five losses, so we’ve been in every game, but we just haven’t been good enough in crucial moments and played the game for long enough.”

“That is our growth area and that is what we’ll focus on. We want to play a certain way, which we think is hard to play against and hard to score against.

“If you look at playing against Glenelg and the Crows on the weekend, the ability to win inside 50 counts and tackle counts are big parts of our game that we are doing well, we just need to capitalise on our opportunities as well.”

While finals footy remains a possibility, Sheedy is staying focused on improving in key areas and continuing to challenge the best teams in the competition.

“I am not sure that we need to talk about that (finals) just yet. We know our game is good enough when we get it together, and we’ve proven that over the last 10 weeks.”

“I understand that we haven’t won (all of those games), but we’ve challenged all of those top four sides really well and been right in the game until five minutes to go, and that was no different on the weekend.

“I think we were seven points down against the Crows at the 12th minute of the last quarter and had some fundamental errors that no one means, but that’s footy and those are the areas we need to keep growing in, but we know that our game stacks up and we are hard to play against, and that’s what we want to be as a footy club.”

With only three games remaining in the home and away season, Sheedy took the opportunity to reflect on the season to date, noting the challenges and highlights of his first season in charge.

“I have enjoyed it. We have definitely had our challenges, obviously. Arriving late and having a limited pre-season wasn’t ideal in trying to implement some new things,” Sheedy told The Redlegs Review podcast.

“The way I see the game and the way Norwood have played previously are pretty similar, but having 21 list changes, which was the most in the competition, we lost a lot of players who had been around for a while and had been real warriors for the footy club and really good culturally.

“We have brought new kids into the footy club who are younger, so the age demographic of the list became a bit younger, but that’s a good thing for the footy club for the future, so we’ve just got to keep building on that and keep trying to get better as a footy club through our list and our training as well.”

Listen to Jade Sheedy’s full interview on The Redlegs Review podcast here: