SANFL 2006 ROUND 22: NORWOOD v STURT

Legs' year over on a positive

By ROB BIDMEADE

NORWOOD and Sturt can both take positives out of last Friday night's high-scoring and hard-fought game at Adelaide Oval.

The Redlegs were able to rebound from their dismal effort against the bottom team West in the previous round.

In this match, Norwood suffered an embarrassing 51-point defeat but it finished strongly against the Double Blues to a record a 22-point victory.

This gave the Redlegs a record of nine wins and 11 losses for the season because they have the bye in the final minor round.

Against Norwood, the Double Blues produced their most competitive effort for the latter part of the season.

After a series of massive defeats in the order of 100 points, Sturt had its chances to beat Norwood but a lack of discipline at vital stages of the game proved costly.

The Double Blues fought back from a 11-point deficit at quarter-time to lead by five points at the long break.

Sturt kicked seven goals to four in the second term after some of its best football of the season. Norwood scored five goals to four in a free-flowing third quarter to lead by just two points at the last change and the stage was set for a tense finish to the eastern derby. Sturt looked a big chance to record its first victory since round 15 (when it beat West by 51 points) but its play unravelled in the final quarter.

Several 25 metre penalties, which resulted in goals to Norwood, allowed the Redlegs to finish strongly to win by 22 points.

Sturt faces an anxious wait to see if reported players James McLeay, Tim Weatherland and Michael Curtis will be available for this week's match against the Eagles.

The best players for Norwood, in its fifth consecutive victory against Sturt, were experienced players Scott Borlace, James Gallagher and captain Brett James, who were all prolific possession winners.

The Redlegs also had an effective two-pronged attack in Andrew Hill and Adam Cockshell, who scored eight goals between them and were difficult for the Sturt defence to control.

On the other hand, Sturt's coaching staff should be delighted by the impressive form of 18-year-old Nick Smith in only his third league game.

He looks a player of the future and he had 14 kicks and nine handpasses to be one of Sturt's best, which also included Sean O'Keefe, Jade Sheedy and Michael Coad, in his 50th league game.

Playing his seventh game, Luke Button, 20, also marked strongly and kicked three goals to be the Double Blues' leading scorer.

Norwood coach Trevor Hill had mixed results in his first year at the helm at the Parade.

The Redlegs won three of their first four games and looked a chance to make the finals.

But they ended the season with only one win from their final five games to slip out of contention.

Sturt's caretaker coach Brodie Atkinson has seen some promising signs from his younger players including Smith, Button, Craig Evans, Sam Miles and Shaun Childs in the past few games and the future is not all gloom and doom at Unley.

The under-17 team has some promising players and is contention for the premiership in that grade.

SCORES: Norwood 4.2 8.6 13.9 18.14 (122) defeated Sturt 2.3 9.5 13.7 15.10 (100).

BEST: Norwood - Borlace, Gallagher, B.James, Culpitt, Bown, Carslake, Bailey; Sturt - O'Keefe, Smith, Sheedy, Coad, Jarvis, Deluca, Weatherald, McLeay.

GOALS: Norwood - Hill 5, Cockshell 3, Gallagher, Bown, Culpitt 2, Vlatko, Brunoli, Carslake, Borlace; Sturt - Button 3, Chambers, Weatherald, O'Keefe, Evans 2, Jarvis, Kay, Deluca, Sheedy.