The Coach’s Review: Round 8

Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy was pleased with how all aspects of the Redlegs game came together in Saturday’s 104-point win over West Adelaide at Hisense Stadium.

Dominating the game from start to finish, the win was Norwood’s biggest since 2014 and its lowest score conceded since Round 17, 2015, with Sheedy particularly impressed with the defensive output from his side.

“Coming in, we wanted to continue to focus on little parts of our game and a lot of those were around our defence, and keeping Westies to 10 scoring shots and three goals for the game was great, it’s what we pride ourselves on,” Sheedy said.

“I think the first seven minutes it was a real arm-wrestle and they tested us early by getting the ball inside their forward 50, and our defenders did a really good job to nullify in the air and be first and ground level and run the ball out of defensive 50.”

At the other end of the ground, Sheedy was also heartened by what he saw in attack, with Norwood accumulating 56 inside 50s and 34 scoring shots.

“It helps for sure when you put scoreboard pressure on, and that’s probably been an RFI (room for improvement) for us as a footy club for the last four weeks.”

“We have had some really good looks, even last week against Centrals we had 31 shots on goal and I think this week including our out of bounds we had about 35 shots on goal, so we’re getting some really good looks and some high numbers on goal.

“Conversion was the next part of our game and getting the ball in good areas and lowering our eyes, and we did all that really well on a big ground.”

With ruckman Luke Surman the latest in a long line of players to return from injury in recent weeks, Sheedy was delighted with the impact his inclusion had on the ruck and forward setups.

“I think it spreads the field a little bit more evenly. It was good having Luke in the ruck so we could have Tristan (Binder), Jacko (Jackson Callow) and Finn (Heard) all ahead of the ball and Izaak Twelftree, who played a little bit of a different role – a bit more of a running role – which is his strength as well, so the pieces came together nicely on the weekend.”

Callow continued his rich vein of form with a career-best six goals and six contested marks, but it was several other aspects of the key forward’s game that impressed Sheedy the most.

“He has been good and it’s all the little things he’s doing as well like bringing the ball to ground, splitting packs and all of those little things where he’s really getting his game going, so once again he’s created really good form through the teammate he wants to be and the acts he wants to do and all the little things in the game, and that’s how we want to build our game both individually and as a team.”

Norwood now turn its attention to a huge King’s Birthday Monday clash against local rivals Sturt at Unley Oval, which Sheedy is looking forward to.

“It is a great challenge for our footy club, I think there is none bigger at the moment, and the boys are really looking forward to it and so are we as a coaching group.

“Last time we played Sturt, they belted us around the footy and I think the boys remember that and know what it looked like last time. They are one of the best contested teams in the competition and we pride our game on that part as well so we’re looking forward to it.”

Captain Jacob Kennerley missed the win over West Adelaide with a calf injury sustained against Centrals, but Sheedy remains hopeful the midfielder will return for the clash with Sturt.

“We are hoping that he returns, if anyone can get up, Jacob can. He is really diligent with everything he does, so he’ll train this week. He was already running again on Saturday, so we’re hopeful we can get him back in.”

Watch Jade Sheedy’s full interview below.

By Jordan Routley NFC