Australian Football

Match Report

The first match for the weekend takes us to the eastern side of the city and to the Coopers Stadium in Norwood where the Redlegs faced the table-topping Crows. Back in Round 8, the Redlegs just barely escaped the Crows grasp at The Parade in a match where the gap at the breaks never exceeded two straight kicks. Adelaide kicked into the lead deep into time-on in the final term, but one last shot on goal from the 'Legs snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by five points. The Redlegs have been on a hot streak as of late, their last loss was back in Round 9 to the Roosters. Fast forward to now, not only did they exact revenge for that game but haven't dropped points since Round 11. Last week they defeated South at Noarlunga in a nail-biter by three points, while the Crows took top spot with a 27-point win over North in Whyalla. That win against North should have put them in good stead coming into this clash, but amazingly, by quarter-time the Crows wouldn't even register a score. Norwood kept them to zero points, but could have done better with their shooting as they kicked to a 16-point lead with their 2.4. In fact, those four behinds all came before the two majors late in the term. Adelaide took until the fifth minute of the second term to get their first goal, while the Redlegs continued to pepper their sticks with shots for a return of 3.7 to 3.2, stretching their lead to 21 points come half-time. While their goal-kicking left much to be desired, the Redlegs were just all over the Crows in the other aspects. They laid 20 more tackles, took as many more marks and over 30 more kicks. Only because of the inaccuracy were the Crows able to stay in the hunt. The inaccuracy bug paid a late visit into the Adelaide camp as they attempted to draw the gap back, but could only knock a point off the deficit posted at the long break. Three missed chances by the Crows among their tally of 2.4 to Norwood's 2.3 would reduce the home side's lead to 20 points going into the final change. The visitors threatened to overwhelm the Redlegs in the final term, but their shooting continued to let them down, scoring 2.5 to 1.3 as Norwood finished off two-goal victors. There were a few great contributors for the 'Legs, but for body pressure alone it was Jed Spence with 23 disposals and eight tackles. Adelaide named Jackson Hately as their standout with 33 disposals, eight clearances and six tackles.