Tunarama & Eyre Peninsula Trip

The Norwood Football Club had one of its largest trips to its Regional Zone of the Eyre Peninsula last weekend, driving nearly 2000km.  

The club’s CEO Richard Kelly, Commercial Manager Simon Dennis, Talent Manager Craig Roberts and players Lani Cocks, Harry Boyd and Jackson Callow headed to the region for Port Lincoln’s Tunarama Festival.

The Festival took place from January 16-18, where the six Norwood representatives attended and participated in the Tunarama Parade and ran a football clinic as part of the Saturday festivities.

The trip commenced on Thursday, January 15, with the group hitting the road from Norwood’s Coopers Stadium, and heading to Coffin Bay on Friday.

Following Saturday’s festival, Roberts, Dennis, Boyd and Callow headed to Streaky Bay, 300km north west of Port Lincoln for a Sunday football session, which included – a footy clinic, an U14 trial for the club’s EP squad, an U15/U16 Academy squad training and an U17/U18 training session.

Following the Streaky Bay session, the crew headed further north to Ceduna to run a clinic in collaboration with Rick Shrowder’s (former NFC GM of Football) Global Community Sports project at Ceduna High School.

The Ceduna session included an opportunity for local players to complete AFL Draft Combine Tests.

To round out the trip, they headed to Penong and Cactus Beach – the local town of former Norwood juniors Kade Chandler (now Melbourne Demons forward) and Jay Polkinghorne (now Geelong forward) – which is just a few-hundred kilometres from the Western Australia Border.

“It was a huge trip, but a fantastic experience,” NFC Talent Manager Craig Roberts said.

“Our club heads to the EP about once a month, and it was great to get out as far as Penong on this occasion. It just shows the incredible lengths that EP players and their families go in order to further their football.

“Their commitment to football and Norwood blows us away, and we are truly grateful.

“When we head over to the EP, we like to fit in as much as we possibly can to every trip. It’s important that we are providing experiences, clinics, coaching, education and training that our metro players have access to.”

Earlier this month, Norwood Senior Coach Jade Sheedy, as well as members of the SANFL, headed to Port Lincoln to carry out a coaching course.