Adelaide has suffered its fifth defeat of the season after falling 12 points short against Norwood on Saturday.

A scoreless first term proved to be the difference maker as the Crows slid to second on the SANFL ladder.

Rowe makes the most of his chances

With goals hard to come by, Adelaide looked to James Rowe to provide the spark.

Rowe showcased his forward craft to kick three goals and made an impact when thrown on ball.

“Jimmy played as a small forward, (but) the ball wasn’t coming in there much,” SANFL Coach Mick Godden said.

“He went on ball, kicked three goals, looked a class above and played with real energy.”

Rowe also collected 17 disposals and had four tackles.

Strachan embraces ruck battle

Kieran Strachan had his hands full against Norwood, battling both Harry Boyd and Luke Surman in the ruck.

Strachan did not shy away from the task, able to make his mark on the game according to Godden.

“Obviously they double teamed him and put a lot of pressure on him, but he doesn’t shirk away from that,” he said.

“He is consistent with his effort and his tap work was really good.

“They tried different ways to beat him and they still couldn’t beat him today.”

Strachan finished with 29 hitouts, 17 disposals, five clearances and four inside 50’s.

Hately’s strong contested game

Jackson Hately stood up in the midfield, showcasing his contested ability with 33 disposals and eight clearances.

Hately was the Crows’ main man when the ball needed to be won in the centre of the ground, able to extract it and hand it off to outside runners.

“I was really happy with Jacko,” Godden said.

“He fights hard, he won a fair bit of the footy and he will only get better and better from here with some consistency.”

Hately also had a team-high six inside 50’s to cap off a strong game.

Johnson shows his ability

In his third SANFL game this season, Development Player Mitchell Johnson provided some stability down back for the Crows.

Johnson was able to limit the impact of his direct opponent while also taking some big intercept marks.

“He’s a Development Player and has not played a lot of footy at league level,” Godden said.

“He’s playing in an unfamiliar position, he’s never played as a back man

“So, to be able to come in play league footy when the ball was in the back line a fair bit today and to play as well as he did was impressive.

“Really happy for Mitch because he has put in a lot of work and he has talent.”

Johnson finished with 18 disposals and a game-high four contested marks.

Consistent Sholl

Wingman Lachlan Sholl continued his strong SANFL form against the Redlegs, amassing plenty of the ball to finish with 23 touches.

After a goalless opening quarter for Adelaide, Sholl was the one to break the deadlock, gliding through a shot on the run from 30 out in the second term.

“The thing with him has been about his consistency as a younger player and his last month has been consistent,” Godden said.

“Today, in pretty tough conditions, he found a way to impact the game both on the wing and halfback,” Godden said.

Sholl collected four marks, three tackles and three rebound 50’s for the day.

There will be no SANFL action next week with the league having a bye.

Adelaide’s next game will be against Woodville West Torrens at Woodville Oval on Sunday the seventh of August at 2:30pm.

ADELAIDE:  0.0  3.2  5.6  7.11 (53)
NORWOOD:  2.4  5.11  7.14  8.17 (65)

GOALS:
Adelaide: Rowe 3, Sholl, Gollant, McKenzie, Boyle
Norwood: Tranfa 2, Surman, Boyd, Morris, Carroll, Donnelly, Rohakr