Round 6 Coach’s Review

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy said last Saturday’s trip to Port Lincoln was an “exciting day for the footy club” as the Redlegs earned a mammoth 103-point win over West Adelaide.

With Centenary Oval again playing host to the annual Eyre Peninsula Cup in the heart of Norwood’s regional zone, the locals were treated to an outstanding display of football by the home team in a comprehensive victory.

Piling on 21 goals in attack while also keeping their opponents to just four majors at the other end, Sheedy was pleased with every facet of his team’s performance.

“It (the win) was built off the back of strong contest, winning the ball back and winning it around contest,” Sheedy told the Redlegs Review podcast. Full interview here.

“We were strong with our ball movement, our connection was good, our backs were really good all day in closing the game out and playing the game in our forward half.”

“I think we scored from about 53% of our inside 50s, which is probably about 12% higher than the best teams in the competition.”

Taking on a West Adelaide side that entered the game in good form, Sheedy was proud of his players’ efforts to deny the Bloods their usual game style.

“We talked about their (West’s) three zones and they have a pretty distinct game style in terms of how they want to play, and it’s not that different to ours in many ways, so it was always going to be a great challenge for our footy club to see how we went around the contest and our ability to outnumber and willingness to use our hands when they pressure came on.”

“We train a lot of work with our hands and our composure in certain areas, and I thought our ability to outnumber in our back half when the ball went in there got us into a lot of good positions in offence and the same in the middle of the field.”

With West Adelaide boasting two dangerous key forwards in Tom Scully and Chris Burgess, Sheedy was impressed with the work of defenders Jack Heard and Tom Donnelly to quell their influence on the match.

“Jack and Tom get the job done every week. Tom has had a big role just about every week and really nailed it. The roles that those two boys play don’t go unnoticed within the group and they are both very highly regarded.”

Forward recruit Josh Murphy put together his best game in Redlegs colours to finish with five goals, of which four came in a barnstorming third term.

“It was good reward for effort for Josh. He has worked really hard at his game and he is still only 19, which we probably forget at times. He has really good forward craft and can play both in the air and on the ground and has added a different dimension to our forward half along with Jackson (Callow) and Tristan (Binder).”

“He was a product of some good movement up the field but also competing strongly in the aerial contests and either halving or winning them, and he’s a beautiful set shot for goal, so when he got his opportunities he was able to maximise them.”

Eyre Peninsula products Tristan Binder and Jayden Gale both relished the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd, kicking four goals each to set the game alight early on.

“Tristan has had a really good season with his shape in the air and his pre-contest work in the forward 50. He had a great pre-season and he has looked after himself, so he’s in really good condition at the moment and is pivotal to our team.”

“Galey’s game over the past two weeks has been really important as well. He plays a really hard role that involves a lot of unrewarded running and corridor running, and then is asked to make the ground big in offence. His contest-to-contest running is at a really high level and he’s a big part in the way we want to play.”

Charlie Molan was another who caught Sheedy’s eye with his performance, collecting 20 disposals, seven inside 50s and two goals in a stellar display.

“Charlie won an award at the club last night that is highly regarded by the players. He is a product of his own hard work over the last 18 months, and he’s been able to really change his profile as a player and now he’s a really dynamic runner and can move really well laterally.”

“He is really clean with the ball, but we’ve also identified other opportunities for him forward of the ball because he is quite big and can play in the air and on the ground. It is a credit to him for all the work and extra training he’s been able to put in.”

Coming up against 208cm ruckman Caleb May, Norwood’s Finn Heard put in another terrific performance in the ruck, tallying 17 disposals, five clearances and five inside 50s to earn the praise of his coach.

“Finn did a tremendous job as the day wore on and was able to help outnumber in a lot of contests around the ground and had some really good efforts forward of the ball as well.”

The trip to Port Lincoln also allowed the coaches and players to enjoy some downtime and bond as a group beyond the football environment, which Sheedy appreciated.

“We had a team dinner on Friday night, and it was good to just sit back and have some good chats with players and support staff outside of the footy club where it doesn’t feel as rushed.”

“Time is important at the footy club, and when players get in you want to maximise the time doing training and reviewing, so it’s nice to slow down a little bit when you’re away with the players and have good quality chats with them.”

Heading into a league-wide bye for the upcoming state game, Sheedy took the opportunity to reflect on the opening six games of the season and assess where his team is at.

“We are in a good spot, but we’d like to think we have more improvement in us throughout the year.”

“We train a certain way, but when the combative game comes against opposition, our game can get testing at times, so it is something we will keep training and building on, but we believe as a group that we will continue to show good improvement throughout the year.”

As the clear best defensive side in the competition after six rounds, Sheedy is pleased with how his backline is operating and restricting opposition teams.

“Defensively, we are in a really good spot. We have only had 288 points kicked on us in six games.”

“It (defence) is what we value, and we train a lot of contest and defence. We have got a very mature back seven at the moment who are reasonably easy to coach, see the game very well and could be coaches in their own right, which helps.

“A lot of the strong clubs have good on-field leaders, and we’re building into that and giving players the license to do that, which will help our footy club grow.”

“The balance in the back seven is good at the moment. We have got some good aerial threats and good ground-level players in Cooper Murley, Alastair Lord, Aaron Francis and Pierce Seymour, who has added that to his game, and Donnelly and Jack Heard are really composed with the ball as well. We do a lot of training around that and starting to see the benefits.”

At the other end of the ground, Sheedy is buoyed by the improvement of the forward set-up over the past few weeks as the Redlegs continue to tweak their attack.

“We have talked about getting the ball in different areas in our forward 50, which is starting to show some rewards as well, so we’ll keep working on our game, but, as all footy clubs do, we will keep making little changes to our game plan through the year.”

With Norwood now having a week off before their next engagement, Sheedy said he is keen for his players to get away and enjoy some well-deserved time off.

“We did our review last night (Monday), and then the players have the rest of the week off, which we planned already. SANFL is a big commitment, so to give them time away is critical and it’s a good mental reset for the group.”

“Obviously we have a few in the state squad, which is exciting, and we have some players in the state U20 squad, so they will be around this week as well.”

Watch Jade Sheedy’s full interview here: