SANFL 2006 ROUND 21: NORWOOD v WEST ADELAIDE

Pride of Westies shines

By ANDREW SPENCE

A SPIRITED West Adelaide side gave its supporters some hope of an improved performance in the SANFL next season with an impressive 51-point win over Norwood at Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

The Bloods played like a finals contender rather than wooden spooner against the Redlegs, getting first use of the ball and using it with skill and purpose.

Acting Bloods captain Luke Donaldson said the win was proof of his side's improvement in the past few matches.

“I thought we'd worked hard over the past six weeks and finally to get a result like that was great,” he said.

West led at every change and powered away from an at times lethargic Norwood in the second half to kick its highest score of the season (23.12) and secure its second win.

Full-forward Adrian Bonaddio kicked a season best 7.1 while midfielders Ben Hollands, Charles Slattery and Marc Dragicevic seemingly had the ball on a string, paving the way for the win.

Youngsters Aaron Bayliss, Alex Hutchins, Scott Bricknell and Chris Schmidt, whose number 72 is among the highest in the league, showed good signs for the club's future.

The win brings West within one win of eighth-placed Sturt and gives it some hope of climbing off of the bottom of the ladder before season's end.

Donaldson said the victory was great encouragement for first year coach Wayne Weidemann and a number of the young players in the side.

“It's been a hard year for `Weed’ and a hard year for the players but he's stuck with us and had a lot of faith in the direction the club is heading,'' he said.

“With so many young blokes and so much enthusiasm I reckon it's a step in the right direction.”

Donaldson said losing experienced players such as Ed Richardson and Chris Chubb from last year's side had been a setback for the club, particularly in the first part of the season.

“I guess we all hoped that we'd start the season better and cover those losses earlier but we haven't and hopefully we can win a couple of the last one's as well and get some momentum going into next year.

“The good thing now is that we've got a good core group that want to stay here and want to be a successful footy club.”

SCORES: West Adelaide 6.2 12.7 17.8 23.12 (150) defeated Norwood 5.3 6.9 9.12 14.15 (99).

BEST: West – Hollands, Bonaddio, Slattery, O'Sullivan; Norwood – Borlace, Bartemucci, Meesen, Nitschke.

GOALS: West – Bonaddio 7, Hollands, O'Sullivan, Porplyzia, Bayliss, Vanderloo 2, Barnett, Dragicevic, Buckley, Donaldson, Slattery, Walsh; Norwood – Bartemucci 3, Hill, Pfeiffer, Gallagher 2, Carslake, Borlace, Culpitt, Meesen, Cockshell.