Semi-Final Match Report

NORWOOD’s 2019 Finals hopes diminished yesterday after suffering a 62-point loss to the Adelaide Crows.

The Crows came out of the blocks early, as impressive first-year player Ned McHenry put through Adelaide’s first as they built genuine momentum in the first term.

McHenry had his second from a nice crumbing effort within three minutes before Elliot Himmelberg – reverting back to his usual role inside 50m with ruckmen Kieran Strachan and Paul Hunter back in the side – used his body well to take a strong chest mark at the top of the square.

Adelaide looked simply irresistible as the midfield pairing of Patrick Wilson and Myles Poholke gave the Crows forward line plenty of opportunities to hit the scoreboard.

After just nine minutes the Crows had kicked away opening a 36-point lead.

Speedster, James Mathews also impressed early kicking two goals in the first term, with Norwood unable to deal with the Crows quick ball movement.

The Redlegs best passage of play came late in the first term, as Mitch Grigg found Anthony Wilson who made no mistake from 40 metres out to give the Redlegs their first goal of the day.

The Crows momentum continued after quarter time as Matthew’s had his third within the opening three minutes.

Strachan and Poholke then kicked back to back goals to put the margin beyond doubt for the Redlegs as their pinpoint kicking and pressure was second to none.

A soccer off the ground in the goal square from retiring 200-club member Brady Dawe gave Norwood its second major for the game 15 minutes into the second but two more to Jordan Gallucci and Shane McAdam had the margin nudging 10 goals for the Crows heading into the main change.

Dom Barry -coming off a dominant display against the Double Blues in the Elimination Final gave Norwood a glimpse of hope early in the third, however his goal was cancelled out by Tyson Stengle 50 seconds later.

Then when Shane McAdam and the exciting Mathews – whose fourth goal was an eye-catching goal on the run after two bounces – kicked two more for Adelaide, any hope of a remarkable red and blue comeback had been snuffed out.

Despite the scoreline, Norwood continued to fight as they kicked the first three of the final term. Bampton – Norwood’s leading goalkicker kicked one from the pocket before Matthew Panos nailed hit set shot from 35 metres.

Whatever the Redlegs tried to manifest always became undone as Adelaide had an answer for everything.

McHenry kicked two more in the final term as Adelaide kicked away to an impressive 62-point victory at Adelaide Oval.

Without utility Lewis Johnston who was a late out with a quad injury, the Legs major ball winners were Matthew Panos (26), Declan Hamilton (25) and Josh Richards who was Norwood’s best with 25 disposals and six tackles.

SCOREBOARD:

ADELAIDE  6.2  11.5  16.9  21.13 (139)

NORWOOD 1.3  2.4  5.8  11.11 (77)

BEST:

J.Richards, Panos, Hamilton, Wilkins

GOALS:

Bampton 2, Dawe 2, Panos 2, Wilson 2, Hamilton 2, Barry

The Norwood Football Club Reserves will play off in the 2019 Grand Final after a nail-biting one-point victory over the Double Blues. In a low scoring affair, Gavin Hughes’ men scraped through the extra time which saw full-forward Luke Surman kick the winning goal after the siren. Watch the goal below.

Reserves: Norwood vs Sturt – City Mazda Stadium / Saturday September 7

NORWOOD: 1.1 3.2 5.3 7.6 8.7 (55)

STURT: 1.4 3.7 4.11 6.12 7.12 (54)

GOALKICKERS: C. Olsson 3, C. Hay, D. Johnston, S. Barnett, L. Surman, J. Collins

BEST: B. Carroll, C. Olsson, L. Surman, I. Saywell, T. Martin, M. Bower