A determined performance from Adelaide’s SANFL team wasn’t quite enough for their first win of the season, going down to Norwood by 21 points on Friday night.
Wayward kicking from the Redlegs kept the Crows in the contest, with the visitors having a chance to hit the front early in the final term.
However, reflective of the night, a behind was kicked and Norwood bootted a flurry of goals from there, going on to record a 14.23 (107) to 13.8 (86) win.
Development squad member Doug Hadden played the best game of his short SANFL career, kicking four goals.
In his return to the SANFL side, Curtly Hampton impressed with 21 disposals, seven marks, six clearances and two goals.
Midfielder Patrick Wilson put together another solid outing, collecting 25 disposals, six tackles and five clearances.
Reilly O’Brien competed well in the ruck while Ben Jarman had 17 touches (10 contested) and six inside 50s.
It was a tight start to the game at The Parade, with both teams scoring three opening term goals. The highlight for Adelaide was a rundown chase from Ben Jarman forcing a turnover which resulted in Hadden’s second goal.
The second quarter wasn’t pleasant viewing, with Norwood’s off-target kicking resulting in seven points.
Adelaide bounced back in the third term, kicking five goals to go into the final change only 15 points down.
Despite Norwood putting their foot down early in last term, the Crows never backed down, kicking four goals in the last 10 minutes.
State League coach Ryan O’Keefe was proud of the effort from the team.
“They kept coming back, kept fighting until the end. I asked them to bring effort and that is what they did tonight,” he said.
“There were a few fundamentals that let us down and a couple of little things that we can tweak, but their attitude and effort tonight was fantastic.
“Dougy (Hadden), we gave him a role up forward and he did that really well, Reilly O’Brien came with some presence and he was really good.
“Patty Wilson was good and battled away, he had a couple of roles that he did and he did them well.”
Small forward Lachlan Murphy was a late out of the selected team as the held over emergency for Adelaide's Saturday night AFL clash with Gold Coast.
ADELAIDE 3.0 3.2 8.7 13.8 (86)
NORWOOD 3.8 4.15 7.18 14.23 (107)
GOALS
Adelaide: Hadden 4, Hampton, 2, Himmelberg 2, O’Brien, McMahon, Leigh, Jarman, Dear
Norwood: Surman 4, Bampton 2, Grigg 2, Panos, Gerloff, Hamilton, Nunn, Johnston, Abbott
BESTS: Hadden, McMahon, O’Brien, Wilson, Jarman, Himmelberg
