Norwood also had Will Young coming straight back in after 6-7 weeks off and a knee op - no detour through the ressies for him either.
Petrenko was carried off by a Norwood and Eagles trainer at the end of the game with his right foot bathed in an ice pack and he wasn't putting any weight on it.
Knights took a hit somewhere in the game and had slight concussion. Birdman just went missing in the second half - I presume he was on the bench all that time?
Actually the Eagles possibly kicked themself out of the game early on. For once their incredible accuracy deserted them because they had 4-4 to 0-1 at quarter time. It really wasn't until the second half of the first quarter that Norwood "appeared at the ground". They managed to take the lead before the Eagles kicked a goal into the wind after the half time siren.
In the second half the wind seemed to be a westerly - it was nigh impossible to score from the NE pocket. I counted 5 Norwood set shots from there which resulted in 3 OTF, 1 no score and 1 behind.
I though Jarrad and Lewis were easily the most dominant Eagles players on the day. In the end, it was probably Norwood's 3rd quarter and the Eagles inability to score in the first half of the second quarter (when they had most of the possession) that decided the game.
The crowd was healthy without being bumper - around 3,000-3,500 I"d say.
Interesting that the Eagles reserves or u/18s were quite content to stand behind the Norwood cheer squad at the southern end - but then, our cheer squad is generally a bunch of flags looking for people to hold them up!
