Australian Football

Match Report

We head over to the City Mazda Stadium in Richmond where the Bloods faced the Redlegs in the ABC Match of the Round. The Redlegs were stung last weekend when the Roosters ended their undefeated run by a single point, their coach coming under some scrutiny with his comments about North's "lucky" win. The Bloods were coming off a bye following their defeat at Elizabeth, as well as facing a sixth consecutive Redleg defeat in succession after their 47-point Round 8 loss at The Parade. Unfortunately, the near 2500-crowd that assembled were about to see a dull spectacle in regards to scores.

The conditions would dictate the flow of the game, the Bloods were able to keep the 'Legs scoreless in the first quarter whilst kicking an inaccurate 1.6 for themselves to take a 12-point lead at quarter-time. Norwood finally found their way to goal in the second term, but could only manage 1.3 while the Bloods took a further 2.2 to stretch the gap to 17 points by the long break. The lowly contest continued in the third quarter as the two teams still struggled to put majors on the board. The Bloods were able to put an extra seven points' gap on the board, adding 1.2 to Norwood's one behind. At the final change, the Bloods were ahead by four goals and seemingly on their way to causing the Redlegs yet another upset loss. But what it took the Bloods three quarters to build, the visitors only needed one quarter to tear down. After kicking 3.3 to two behinds, it all came down to a set shot on goal for the Redlegs as the final siren sounded. With that, David Rodan turned what could have been a five-point loss into a one-point win for the 'Legs.

Nathan Batsanis was named best for Norwood, while West named Ryan Ferguson as their standout.