By Connor Schmidtke
Round three of the Premier Division is upon us, and this weekend will see a number of the top teams facing off in some mouth-watering clashes.
One of these matches will feature the Rowville Hawks taking on Norwood, two teams that have enjoyed success across the first two weeks of the season.
The Hawks currently sit on top of the ladder following their two wins, whilst Norwood has split their opening two games after a tough loss last weekend to Vermont.
Both sides will be eager to claim the four-points in this one, with early season wins vital for those teams wanting to keep touch with the top-four in the premier league.
Norwood Positives
Aside from the last quarter of their round two clash with Vermont, Norwood put in a reasonably strong performance.
The main positives to takeaway were evident in the first quarter, when they stormed to a 38-point lead at the quarter time break.
First and foremost, they were very strong through the middle of the ground.
Norwood were able to consistently control the midfield battle, dominating stoppages and winning a mountain of clearances in the opening term. This helped to give them first look going forward, and meant that the ball lived in the Norsemen’s half of the ground for much of the first quarter.
By moving it in quickly and direct from centre clearances, Norwood were able to exploit the individual match-ups down forward and this gave them a number of scoring shots in the opening quarter.
This also lead to their other real strength in the opening half hour. Their forward half pressure was nothing short of immense.
The Norsemen were able to flood numbers to the contest, making it very hard for Vermont to move the football when they got their hands on it. Time and time again, Norwood forced Vermont to handball under pressure in contests and were able to force a number of turnovers in their forward 50.
The swarm mentality meant they were able to get repeat forward entries right through the quarter, eventually overwhelming the Vermont backline and leading to five goals in just eight minutes of footy.
Norwood still lead by 21-points at the start of the last quarter, and can take a lot of positives out of their round two clash.
Rowville Positives
Trying to pick particular positives out of Rowville’s crushing round two victory is tough, as they proceeded to dominate very facet of the game after half time.
The Hawks recorded an astounding amount of scoring shots across the game, slamming home 16 goals from midway through the second quarter. This was particularly impressive as the Hawks were pushed early.
As mentioned, they were very strong all over the ground.
In the midfield, they were clean by hand and won a number of crucial stoppages. This was coupled well with their clean ball movement through the middle of the ground, leading to a large number of quality forward entries.
One thing they were particularly good that can set them apart from the rest of the Premier league, was their decision-making and execution heading inside 50.
Consistently throughout the day, they found themselves in great positions with ball in hand across the forward 50. They were able to lower the eyes and make the right decision, helping them to find really strong avenues to goal.
Often, they had an outnumber inside 50 from their slick movement up the ground, which helped them to create a number of easy chances in front of goal.
Of course, it won’t be that easy against Norwood but if they can execute their plans to as high a level as round two, they will be tough to beat.
Norwood’s Weakness
As mentioned previously, Norwood held a 21-point lead over Vermont heading into the final term.
For three quarters, they had been rock solid and hadn’t given Vermont much of a look in.
But Vermont were able to completely reverse the script on Norwood in the final stanza, exposing Norwood in the same way Norwood had exposed them earlier in the game.
They were able to control the middle of the ground, putting the Norsemen on the backfoot early and often in the final quarter and forcing them to defend repeatedly. This overwhelmed the Norwood defence, leading them to conceding six goals in the final quarter.
Hitting Norwood with extreme pressure was also a key to Vermont coming back and winning the game.
These were the same key traits that Norwood smashed Vermont with in the first quarter, but they were unable to sustain this for four quarters.
If Rowville are to beat Norwood this weekend, they need to apply the same pressure that Vermont did from the opening bounce and find ways to get repeat inside 50’s.
Rowville’s Weakness
Despite the dominant second half and the final margin, Rowville did get exposed by North Ringwood at times in the second quarter.
Rowville looked particularly susceptible to faster ball movement. The Saints were able to link up by hand really well to clear contests, finding an outlet kick that would eventually lead them to finding targets in damaging positions.
Rowville seemed to have no answer for North Ringwood when they rebounded off half back in this fashion. They were able to waltz through, untouched most times with a real lack of pressure from the Hawks.
This lead to a quick burst of goals for North Ringwood, helping them retake the lead in the early parts of the second quarter.
Of course, it did not last as the Hawks ran riot after halftime on route to a massive victory, but it did show a weakness that Norwood might be able to expose this weekend.
Weekend Prediction
These look like two reasonably matched teams who have enjoyed strong starts to the 2022 season.
Rowville will be full of confidence after their demolition job of North Ringwood last weekend, but Norwood will give them possibly their toughest assignment to date.
The winner of this game will be whoever can apply the most forward pressure. This will lead to stoppages around goal, repeat inside-50 entries and numerous scoring chances for either side.
Prediction: Rowville by 10 points
