The Wrap Up: Norwood v West @ Coopers Stadium

Norwood 3.4 5.6 6.8 8.10.58
West       2.3 4.5 5.5 8.7.55

Norwood survive a big scare from West Adelaide to continue their winning ways.

Last time we outscored Norwood after quarter time. This time we outscored them after the first 5 minutes. If we ever get off to a good start against them we might beat them.

Great game of footy, I am disappointed about the result, Well Done Norwood

Fascinating game of footy.  It seems silly to say this, but the sub-plot to this game is almost more important than the points.  Norwood certainly don't need the points, West do, but an Eagles loss mitigates that a bit.

What we see each time these two teams play is a continuing serial of whether West can succeed against Norwood's game plan and pressure.  So far they can't, but perhaps we saw yesterday that the gap is closing.  I thought at times that Norwood looked a little vulnerable under pressure.

Both sides have players to return.  Hartlett, Fielke, Bricknell and Moran will strengthen West, but Norwood didn't have Phillips and several others, perhaps Jericho to return and have greater depth, especially in ruck with Baulderstone.

The game was tight all day and finding space for a kick was difficult.  West could have won it with a Silverlock kick, but Norwood also missed some easy chances in the last quarter which would have wrapped it up..  Norwood took some strong marks inside 50, West didn't, but the Bloods pressure on the Norwood ball carriers was good all day.  It was tough footy, a lot of packs and ball ups, but lovers of a hard, tough contest came away happy.

There were a lot of good players and some who were found out by the way the game was played.  Aish showed sublime skills at times, Thomas was strong and effective and Norwood were cleaner with their skills and a little better with their decision making.  They deserved their win, as narrow as it was.

West would also have been worthy winners for a four quarter effort that never had the Legs relaxing at any stage.  Schmidt was terrific all day and the defence was outstanding, as usual.  Brad Mangan is certainly one of the recruits of the year, Joel Tippett was very good and Ryan Ferguson again showed why he is the premier defender in the SANFL.  As good as Tippett was, it's always good to see a player come back successfully from a serious injury and that's what Michael Newton did, with some strong marks (and some aberage kicking for goal).  He's an important addition to Norwood's atrack.

The free kick count favoured Norwood 21 to 15 and both sides felt aggrieved at times, but for such a tight game the umpiring was generally OK.

The sub-plot?  Well, Norwood are still beating West, but a tough, contested 3 point loss showed that West are making progress.  They need to find a marking forward or two and Michael Still, who kicked 5 of 7 goals in an otherwise disgraceful West Reserves, might be the answer.  West's defence is as good, if not better, than anyone's, their midfield, with the addition of Travis Tuck, is strong, but ruck and forwards are still a problem.

Daniel Webb rucked well and the vastly under-rated Jonno Beech (3 goals) did well, but West had a few players who didn't produce much.

The end result?  Norwood deserving winners, still better than West, but the gap appears to be narrowing and it's fascinating.

Random thoughts:

Norwood's Reserves were very impressive against a pathetic West.

There was extra security near the West bench to try to curb the usual abuse coming from the crowd closely above.  Worked to some extent, not completely.

Matt Suckling tagged Travis Tuck.  Both were very good, but Suckling would have been happy to get a holding the ball decision his way when he had been holding Tuck well before Tuck got near the footy. There were certainly similar decisions the other way.

I note that Nathan Bassett told the media wtte that Norwood possibly wouldn't play West again this year.  I hope I'm not misquoting him, but humility in victory doesn't seem to come naturally to Nathan.

Had a nice chat with Luke Jericho about his travels. Good to see Luke back, even if it's not good news for Norwood's opponents.

Good to catch up with Baldy and Mark Robinson as usual at Norwood.  Baldy assured me he was acting as my bodyguard from a discreet distance all day.

Finally, I came away from The Parade fairly content.  Pity about the result, but despite the superficial analysis of some, happy that I'd seen another chapter in a frustrating story for Westies, but a hard, rugged and great game of footy.

Apologies to the Norwood readers for this being obviously from a Westies point of view.  Love to read a good analysis from a Norwood fan.

Good write up R&B, agree with everything you wrote.
Also I must be one of the few supporters who actually look forward to Norwood v West games. I enjoy the grind and anyone who was there yesterday saw 2 teams attack the ball hard and were so evenly matched it was a shame there had to be a loser.
Already looking forward to our next meet.
Go Legs.

Doesn't anybody think that Tucky may be trouble. I thought I saw him hit someone in the second 1/4 down the Parade end. I hope I was only seeing things and he doesn't get Cited

I saw it as well and the umpire saw it as well. Surprised to see no report so far.

Edit: just saw it on Iview and he is fine. He just pushed Georgiou over. Georgiou definitely made it look a lot worse than it was.

I watched the game again on IView.  Good production by the ABC and all commentators.  Enjoyed Chris Gowans comments.

The replay confirmed some things for me.  1.  It was a good, hard game. 2. Norwood were just a bit better and deserved the win.  3.  The umpiring was fair enough for such a tough game, but anyone who thought Norwood got a rough deal ( and there are some) wasn't watching the game.  Even the commentators thought Norwood got the rub of the green (23 to 17 was the ABC count), Norwood's way.

I repeat that it wasn't a factor in the result, Norwood were a bit better on the day.  Congratulations to them.