Under 18 Match Report – Round 5

Heading back down South to Noarlunga for the second time in five weeks – we saw plenty of change in the side from the previous weeks outing. With College’s taking players back, we were excited to see seven players make their debut for the Norwood Under 18s program – taking over 11 changes from the line-up against West. With this, came some uncertainty but plenty of excitement as well – as these debutantes would gain valuable experience at this standard.

One of these debutantes was even an Under 16 – Caleb Barton – who had come up into our program after a solid 16s season – and had trained his way into selection in only a matter of weeks. The game was free flowing for both sides from the start – with South dominating the stoppages with predictable ease, which we just could not adjust to unfortunately.

While the stoppages were not going our way, we were able to move the ball freely when using the free options and our space and speed. Off the back of this counterattacking style, we were able to hit the scoreboard multiple times and head into the first break up three majors. Unfortunately, similarly to previous weeks, our endeavour once we hit the lead was not where it needed to be – as we conceded the ground ball (always being second to a hungrier South outfit) and just made poor decisions after poor decisions going forward. Their dominance at centre bounce coupled with this poor decision making led to South scoring 52 unanswered points in the second quarter and the game was over from there.

Eventually losing by 56 points – we can take solace that it was only one poor quarter that separated a young inexperienced side versus one of the strongest non college sides in the competition – however we aren’t a squad that takes joy from excuses and know that simple improvements -especially in the midfield and in our execution of the basics – would be able to compete and beat these sides. This weekend we are presented with another great chance to prove ourselves. Coming up against a very hungry side in Central Districts (looking for their first win) – we need to be on top of our game (decisions, effort, and execution across the board) so that we can start eliminating the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our current form.

SCOREBOARD:

SOUTH ADELAIDE: 0.2 8.6 12.8 16.10 (106)

NORWOOD: 3.1 3.1 5.4 7.8 (50)

GOALS: Boxer 2, Blacker, Capurso, Emerson, Rahui, Joseph

BEST: Will Bowman, Taj Rahui, Matthew Dnistriansky, Luke Capurso, Max Kelly, Peter Minervini and Caleb Barton.