An undermanned Port Adelaide has fallen to Norwood by 18-points in a high-intensity ANZAC round clash at Alberton.
In their first home game of the season, the Magpies fought hard against the undefeated Redlegs, but a six-goal run from the visitors either side of half-time ultimately determined the result.
Coach Hamish Hartlett was pleased with the way that the team handled the late loss of experienced players Ryan Burton, Jed McEntee and Tom Clurey, who were kept out after injuries to the AFL side, with Thursday night’s Showdown in mind.
“It certainly was an interesting week in terms of the way the team was chopping and changing pretty much daily,” Hartlett said after the 6.7 (43) to 8.13 (61) result.
“I had to give a few of the contracted boys a call after the AFL game last night to let them know that they were going to be playing today.
“So yeah, really happy with the way the guys just take it all in their stride, and they rock up and they’re always very, very keen and excited to play for this football club and their passion to want to play well is always there. It’s what I love about this group.”
Reflecting on the game-turning flurry of Norwood goals, Hartlett said the team was aware it had conceded runs of goals late in quarters and would spend time addressing the issue during the week.
“I think everyone had their tails up sort of halfway through that second quarter when we hit the front,” he said.
“There’s probably some management things that we need to consider doing as coaches to prevent those really big momentum swings, but I thought we challenged the guys at half-time to really take the game on in offence.
“I thought that was the way we were going to get back involved in the game and to their credit, they tried as well as they could, but Norwood were fantastic defensively and really hard to break down.”
The first quarter was a seesawing affair with neither side able to capitalise.
Tom Scully (one goal) kicked the opener before Norwood responded with two goals of their own to head into the first break with a narrow lead.
Both teams traded behinds in the second quarter until a quick flurry of three goals in five minutes saw the Magpies take the lead for the first time.
The Redlegs replied with three goals of their own to regain the advantage at half-time.
Norwood continued its dominance after the main break, extending its run of goals to six straight.
A left foot snap from Francis Evans (one goal, 15 disposals, eight tackles) broke the run to close the margin to 25-points and give the Magpies some hope heading into the final change.
A Hugh Ferrari goal early in the final term kept the Magpies in the hunt, however that completed the scoring, leaving the margin at 18 points.
Despite the loss, Hartlett was pleased with the performance of some of his SANFL-contracted players, singling out Logan Evans (26 disposals, five marks, five tackles), who was excellent against the team he played league footy with last season.
“He was fantastic, I thought, particularly in the first half of the game,” Hartlett said.
“He was the one down back that was really, really standing up under a fair bit of duress.
“I thought he made good decisions as to when to defend and when to intercept the footy and all in all he used the ball really nicely too, so probably the best performance of the season for Logan, which was really pleasing for him.”
Port Adelaide will hope to get its first win of the season in the SANFL Showdown against the Adelaide Crows on Thursday at 3:20pm at Adelaide Oval.
Port Adelaide 1.2 4.3 5.4 6.7 (43)
Norwood 2.3 5.7 8.11 8.13 (61)
Port Adelaide
Goals: Scully, Chamberlain, Weidemann, Charleson, F. Evans, H. Ferrari
Best: Moore, Chamberlain, L. Evans, Weidemann, F. Evans, Turner
