Norwood v Glenelg Round 5 Match Report

This week’s game against Norwood meant three rounds out of the first five we have faced a team sitting on top of the ladder. Saturday’s two point loss means we have won one of them and lost two. Of the three losses we have had this season, all have been by less than a goal. Despite sliding down to 5^th spot on the ladder, our percentage is the second best in the competition. Whilst we still have a way to go, there is definitely significant improvement within our program this season.

Injuries and the unavailability of our State U19 representatives, Tamsyn Morriss and Brooke Tonon, created opportunities for a few players who have been working hard, training well and putting pressure on those in the side. Excitingly, Rori Perryman, one of our South East junior players made her debut.

Outside of Round 1, our starts this season have been poor. We placed a greater emphasis on our start this week and pleasingly we started the game very well. We had most of the play and dominated territory and we were the only team to hit the scoreboard. We just didn’t cash in well enough for the control we had, going into the first break one goal one point thanks to a clever goal to our Captain Ellie Kellock, who swooped on a loose ball, dodged through some traffic and kicked truly.

From this point forward things got quite ugly for us. Norwood took control of the stoppages and the entire second quarter was played in their half of the ground. Inaccuracy from Norwood meant we were miraculously still in the game, only trailing by 7 points.

A very good third quarter saw us hit the lead after kicking the only two goals of the quarter. This included a goal to Lucy Armitage that cleared a pack and rolled through the goals, followed by Shae Partington gathering a loose ball, baulking an opponent and kicking a truly.

A clever goal to Madisyn Freeman in the last quarter, using her speed to exit the contest then kick a nice leg break through the goals saw us extend out lead to two goals. In the coach’s box we just knew that this seesawing battle had a few more twists and turns to play out. Unfortunately, Norwood took control from this point forward and kicked a couple of goals to put them in front. We just couldn’t finish the game off as we had wanted.

Special mention must be made of our backline, led by Sheridan Howell. They were under a fair bit of pressure in the second quarter, but they stayed strong under the circumstances.

More lessons learnt for us, but learning them in close losses does come with some pain.

We now turn our attention to Round 6, where we take on Sturt 10:30am this Saturday 3^rd April in a historic first ever SANFL Women’s game at Adelaide Oval. This is a must win game for us as we look to remain in the hunt beyond the minor rounds.

– Jason Fairall, Senior Coach

Goals: Ellie Kellock (1), Lucy Armitage (1), Shae Partington (1), Madisyn Freeman (1)

Best: Sheridan Howell, Jess Bates, Ellie Kellock, Chelsea Packer, Laura Chigwidden