Australian Football

Match Report

Thursday afternoon football sees us head up The Parade to Coopers Stadium where the strains of the Last Post would lead us to the Grand Final Re-Match between the Redlegs and the Bloods. As said earlier, these two clubs aren't strangers to each other on this stage. Norwood and West Adelaide contested the first ever Anzac Day contest back in 1948 following the Bloods' 1947 premiership win which saw the 'Legs win that contest by 38 points. This time around though, the role of the reigning premier would be reversed after the 2012 decider as Norwood took out their 28th flag in a low scoring contest. This would be the first time that a GF return match was played on Redleg soil and West haven't won at The Parade after Round 13 in 2009.

The Redlegs were slow to react early on, as West began proceedings by restricting them to just three behinds whilst kicking 2.3 for themselves to take a 12-point lead at quarter-time, the coaches almost coming to blows after an argument was sparked on the sidelines. Norwood would finally break through the big sticks in the second quarter, but the Bloods would be ahead with a 10-point lead at the half-time break after kicking 2.2 to two goals. But if the Redlegs' possession rate during that first half was any indication, they were just warming up the engine and only horrid disposals held them back. When play resumed, the Bloods went from a threat to a minor annoyance as the Redlegs kicked into the lead with their 5.4 to Westies' comparably lousy 1.1. At the final change, the home side were ahead by 19 points. Again, this fixture was a low-scoring one, but the overall result was an improvement on the previous encounter at AAMI. The Bloods just couldn't reel the 'Legs back in as they went down by 26 points after a 2.4 to 1.1 final quarter.

The Bob Quinn Medal went to Mat Suckling, but the Redlegs named Kieran McGuinness as their best on ground while the Bloods voted in Joel Tippett as their best afield.