The Wrap Up: Norwood v North @ AAMI Stadium

I thought Ben Warren was BOG, taking nothingaway from Brett Zorzi, who I admire immensely. Zorzi seemed to be just a reliable full-back for some time, but since moving into the midfield, he's been a strong, skilful and strong leader.

The fact that Norwood's midfield didn't treally dominate against a weakened North midfield surprised me and it also seemed that Norwood were a bit shaky under pressure at times. McGuinness is and was extremely important to Norwood's structure and they work hard to isolate him as their extra in defence.

I remember Fenton injuring himself seriously ladt year and it's a huge credit to him that he badically cut Suckling out of the game. North rely on their major playe rs, such ad Gordon, Ryswyk, Campbell, Blee, Thiele and others, but I thought Keller stood up. Johnston is class at this level also.

In the end, it's tough coming from the first Final to the GF and history and a very good team prevailed.

Dumont was very impressive, but Fantasia instead of Evans could be said to have not worked as well, but perhaps Warren wouldn't have been as effective in that scenario.

Credit to North for having a good crack, but apart from a short period either side of half time, Norwood were on top.

Back to back deservedly and they'll start 2014 as the sideto beat still.

Watching the game on TV I found it a very dour contest. The game didn't reach great heights.
I thought Norths onball brigade did a good Job with Fenton taking care of Suckling and I thought Anderson did ok on Grigg both would have Been in their sides best players.

Norwood are very well drilled. Their foot skills are very good. They hold onto the ball very well and only pull the trigger when they find a player in space. They deny the opposition the ball better than any club in the league by a very long way.

They will lose a number of players next year,in Zorzi,Warren,Aish,Dummont,Fantasia,Thomas and Stevenson
But their depth is very good.

I though young Dummont played very well yesterday and he would be a good pick for Any AFL Club

I went to the game and no disrespect to either clubs as it is the way footy is heading ...

I had to try and keep myself awake .... Again one of the most boring grand finals I have witnessed.

Well done to Norwood but if this is the way footy is heading I refuse to pay and watch crap dished out like this.

A perfect day for footy to see such a low scoring game.... Not going to bring the crowds or tv audience in.

Next year will test me I am sure !!!

Anything prefaced with "...no disrespect..." is always dangerous.
If you want the true definition of "crap" then sitting through the GF and watching what your team Southee dished up in 1979 against Port takes the cake.  Surely Southee, you would appreciate how precious a flag is, no matter how you earn it.  Wouuld you really care how South wins a flag once it is secured - surely not?

The way Norwood has only lost 5 matches over the past two years is testimony to what the club and coaches have put in place, but it is also an indictment on all the other SANFL coaches during the same period who still cannot either work out how to counter Norwood's game plan, or have not instilled the skills or discispline required to match the Redlegs.

Before anyone starts having a crack at Norwood, consider why your own respective clubs haven't performed better over the same period.

Careful, Carman09, what South did in 1979 is off-topic  

You're right about Norwood, though. I've repeatedly said breaking their game plan is the major factor in the SANFL right now.

It takes time, money and skill to perfect that plan. In 2011, I think Norwood played 2 finals where they kicked only 3 or 4 goals.

To be fair to Southee, Norwood's style isn't attractive for a neutral supporter, but that's not Norwood's problem.

Norwood clearly the best side of 2013.

And as noted above, they play a very defensive game style that scores heavily when they open you up, IF they open you up. They couldn't open North up and as such the game in itself was an absolute fizzer.

North play Johnston behind the ball and Stewart almost one-out in the square......? That was never going to win them the game.

I prefer free flowing skillful footy (as opposed to free flowing non-skillful footy), but in today's age where so much effort is put into defensive strategies, that sort of footy of old days won't happen again I think. At least not as a rule as often.

Even though the last 2 GFs may have revolved around defensive strategies, I agree with whoever said it is incumbent on other sides to find ways of combating that style.

Norwood have been a well drilled unit in doing this and everyone has fallen short for long periods of the season and in the finals especially.

Maybe things could change with some senior playing personnel retiring and also the prospect of a new coach and new style.

But it doesn't alter the fact that all other sides need to more homework on finding ways to defeat that system.

No different to combatting the "flood", Clarko's "rolling zone", and various other techniques coaches have used over time.

The game will evolve in time, as it always does.
From a spectator perspective, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Congrats to the Legs, a class above the rest all year.

But from a spectator point of view, both the AFL and SANFL grand finals were crappy games. The mindset seemed to be always about not letting the opposition score and hoping that enough scoring opportunities came your way during the game. If I wanted to watch that I would follow soccer.

i know they say ''a week is a long time in footy'' yet it is just a week since the grand final & it seems (to me) like it happened about a month ago

UncleHuey wrote:Congrats to the Legs, a class above the rest all year.

But from a spectator point of view, both the AFL and SANFL grand finals were crappy games. The mindset seemed to be always about not letting the opposition score and hoping that enough scoring opportunities came your way during the game. If I wanted to watch that I would follow soccer.

That's where you're wrong. Football (soccer) is way more exciting.