1980's SANFL

[Adelaide Hawk]

Only regularly started going to the footy as a seven year-old in '82.

So for me, Port v Glenelg has always been the big rivalry.

Certainly appreciate the tradition and history of rivalries between Norwood and Sturt and even West.

But beating the Bays is something else.

Especially in a grand final.

As you can see, there was a lot of talent at the Parade in that era, which is why Norwood people cannot understand our lack of success over the following few seasons.

Brilliant but brittle.

While Norwood was playing "champagne football", Port, Glenelg and North were winning premierships

Firstly, how anyone could label Port Adelaide v Glenelg a big rivalry is beyond me. Sure, they played in a number of GF's, but Port won them all. You have to go back to 1934 to find a GF win by Glenelg over Port, and some of the performances by Glenelg against Port in Grand Finals were nothing short of lamentable.

Brittle is a poor description of Norwood in the 80s, "champagne football" is plain ridiculous. The problem Norwood had, and still have is that as a club we are not hungry enough for success. Same problem Glenelg and North Adelaide have IMO. Port would win one flag and they'd want another, same as Central today. Norwood would win a flag and then concentrate on the corporate advantages rather than winning it again. I don't know if I would be calling players like McIntosh, Aish, Thomas, etc, "brittle".

[robranisgod]

Certainly appreciate the tradition and history of rivalries between Norwood and Sturt and even West.

...

As a North supporter I am always bemused that North are left out of these "historical rivalries"

Historically North are the third best performed side behind Port and Norwood, and if your memories go back to the early 1980s, you would have seen North beat Port at Alberton 18 times - 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

You would have seen over 29,000 people attend the Father's day game of 1989 and you would have seen a number of games at Prospect with over 10,000 people.

Does 1989 condemn North forever?

[Rik E Boy]

Brilliant but brittle.

While Norwood was playing "champagne football", Port, Glenelg and North were winning premierships.

Port I can cop but Glenelg won as many flags as we did in the 80's and North only won a single flag during that decade. That comment really shows you only started following SANFL in 1982. You were probably too young to remember how a brittle Norwood ended Port's dominance in the Major Round that season or how a brittle Norwood flogged the Yabs by ten goals in the Grand Final. The all powerful Roosters were nowhere in sight in the early years of the decade and it wasn't until Nunan arrived that they were little more than making up the numbers.

Norwood were so britttle that we made the finals every season that decade where even the mighty Port couldn't achieve the same feat in 1983 and 1985. In between those years a brittle Norwood came from 3-6 at one stage to defeat the mighty Port in a Grand Final to create history.

Brittle? BOLLOCKS.

regards,

REB

[Hondo]

I think Norwood after 1984 suffered from being a good side (and possibly great) but never the best side. There were always 2-3 better teams in a given season. So that's partly just bad luck and bad timing. They seemed to me to lack a really good key forward or two and I don't know why their recruiting didn't address that while Woodville were able to bring in Nichols, Taylor, Klug and Jackovich, for example.

[JK]

Certainly a good array of players there. Still 2 flags in a decade is not a bad effort. Its funny how things turn out, the Legs won the one they weren't expected to win (coming from the Elimination), yet in other years when they were more consistent, they didn't manage to snare a flag.

I reckon the figure given before on our W/L ratio over Port between the start of 82 to end of 87 plays a big part in it .. Norwood have traditionally (in my time), I believe, placed too much worth on the importance of beating the arch enemy.

Whilst we enjoyed a golden run over Port in that period of time, we could never quite reach the same heights of consistent committed performances against other teams like Glenelg and North, who were too good to beat if you weren't playing at anywhere near your %100 best.

I guess the other factor is pretty simple, the teams that won their flags in those years were the best teams going .. Certainly I rate Westies of 83' as one of the most lethal sides I've ever seen in this state.

From 88' onwards the Golden Years for Port came via the superstar kids they had, blended with the best veterans available .. Hodges and Hynes were awesome in 88 (and beyond), as was Rohan Smith, David Brown etc.

[FlyingHigh]

Certainly appreciate the tradition and history of rivalries between Norwood and Sturt and even West.

...

As a North supporter I am always bemused that North are left out of these "historical rivalries"

Historically North are the third best performed side behind Port and Norwood, and if your memories go back to the early 1980s, you would have seen North beat Port at Alberton 18 times - 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

You would have seen over 29,000 people attend the Father's day game of 1989 and you would have seen a number of games at Prospect with over 10,000 people.

Does 1989 condemn North forever?

That's a pretty extraordinary record. There's not too many times that North have been near the top and failed at Alberton, ie not front-runners and losing when things got a bit hard. The couple of losing stretches were when North weren't doing too well anyway (except for 92, but we know how good Port were that year).

[nickname]

Firstly, how anyone could label Port Adelaide v Glenelg a big rivalry is beyond me. Sure, they played in a number of GF's, but Port won them all. You have to go back to 1934 to find a GF win by Glenelg over Port, and some of the performances by Glenelg against Port in Grand Finals were nothing short of lamentable.

I don't think those results preclude it from being called a rivalry AH. I think the fact that they kept meeting in big games (and maybe even because Port won most of them) can create the rivalry. Port and West built a great and widely accepted rivalry in the 50s and met in several GFs but Port beat us in all of them, by very slender margins, which also contributed to the rivalry.

[JK]

Historically North are the third best performed side behind Port and Norwood, and if your memories go back to the early 1980s, you would have seen North beat Port at Alberton 18 times - 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

RIG ... Can you refresh my memory on North's season in 1997 .. I can recall them inflicting 2 of our 3 Minor Round losses, and you've beaten the Runnersup at Alberton which was close to the hardest gig in footy - Where did you finish the Minor Round? And in your opinion could/should have the Roosters gone further than they did?

[FlyingHigh]

Reckon North finished 4th, beating Sturt in Elimination, but losing 1st semi to Centrals.

[robranisgod]

Historically North are the third best performed side behind Port and Norwood, and if your memories go back to the early 1980s, you would have seen North beat Port at Alberton 15 times - 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

RIG ... Can you refresh my memory on North's season in 1997 .. I can recall them inflicting 2 of our 3 Minor Round losses, and you've beaten the Runnersup at Alberton which was close to the hardest gig in footy - Where did you finish the Minor Round? And in your opinion could/should have the Roosters gone further than they did?

North finished about where they should have in 1997. They played some great footy, but were aided by the fact that they had very few Crows or Power players. Norwood and Port in particular were strengthened come finals time by many AFL players. North had a settled side but probably didn't have that edge in class that players like Brett James added to Norwood. North beat Norwood after Norwood had won their first 10 or 11 games, Norwood were ready for a loss and as we have said before North normally perform well at Alberton. North actually beat Port both times that year. Wayne Rosenboom absolutely slaughtered the Port rucks at Alberton and North whipped Port at Prospect.

The other thing that prevented North going further was that Troy Lehmann who was an absolute Rolls Royce that year did his knee late in the year and that probably impacted upon North as well. Lehmann and Danny Morton were North's two guns that year.

[JK]

Thanks for that lads, certainly an interesting year for the Roosters with 4 wins against the 2 Grand Finalists.

[Magpiespower]

Good to see Norwood folk are as hyper-sensitive as ever!

To deny the modern Port v Glenelg rivalry is indeed, lamentable.

Two of those GF's were classics ('77 and '90).

Throw in Caldwell and the court action, Granger's rampage, the massacre at the Bay, Scott Salisbury's attempt to decapitate Greg Anderson and then the events of 1990, never mind the early Glenelg Crows taunts and...

You've got a bitter rivalry bordering on hatred.

That comment really shows you only started following SANFL in 1982. You were probably too young to remember how a brittle Norwood ended Port's dominance

Actually, no. I remember. Was at the '82 2SF and PF.

And again two years later on THAT day.

As a North supporter I am always bemused that North are left out of these "historical rivalries"

Just wondering if there has been an incident, on or off-the ground, or prolonged case of losing big matches, to provoke ill-feeling between North and other clubs?

Perhaps Glenelg.

Can't recall anything major between Port and North.

Missed that Fathers Day game because it was the same day as our GF. Should've gone to Footy Park. We lost...

[FlyingHigh]

GWW, Ian Dettman says in the Great Book that he was originally a centreman, but as his knees started to go, around the 86-87 time Blight started to move him to the backlines.

Ian Jones from memory was also a wingman/half-back. He played 30-odd games over 85-86 and Robert Bowman (was he a little red-headed second rover type?) played 20-odd games in 1986. These players obviously held their positions as the club improved their perforamnces, but curiously neither played on after 1986. I can vaguely recall Jones being stretchered off in one of the finals, but can't remember the injury. Does anyone know why they didn't go on?

Another interesting thing I didn't know was the impact the East Gambier footy club had on Woodville. Colin McDonald, Kevin Harris, both their brothers, and a couple of others.

[robranisgod]

Good to see Norwood folk are as hyper-sensitive as ever!

To deny the modern Port v Glenelg rivalry is indeed, lamentable.

Two of those GF's were classics ('77 and '90).

Throw in Caldwell and the court action, Granger's rampage, the massacre at the Bay, Scott Salisbury's attempt to decapitate Greg Anderson and then the events of 1990, never mind the early Glenelg Crows taunts and...

You've got a bitter rivalry bordering on hatred.

That comment really shows you only started following SANFL in 1982. You were probably too young to remember how a brittle Norwood ended Port's dominance

Actually, no. I remember. Was at the '82 2SF and PF.

And again two years later on THAT day.

As a North supporter I am always bemused that North are left out of these "historical rivalries"

Just wondering if there has been an incident, on or off-the ground, or prolonged case of losing big matches, to provoke ill-feeling between North and other clubs?

Perhaps Glenelg.

Can't recall anything major between Port and North.

Missed that Fathers Day game because it was the same day as our GF. Should've gone to Footy Park. We lost...

1971 and 1972 North and Port were miles better than the other clubs. Virtually no minor round game was close, and Port probably had the edge over all. Come the finals though, and North dominated. In both second semi finals North came from behind tow in. In 1971, North were 21 points down at the 18 minute mark and won by 15 points, in 1972 Port led by four goals early but North wore them down. In all four finals Barrie Robran was best on the ground, performing miracles never likely to be seen again.

[Adelaide Hawk]

1971 and 1972 North and Port were miles better than the other clubs.

In 1972, North Adelaide maybe, but not Port Adelaide. In 1972 Norwood played Port twice and won them both, including a 9 goal win at Alberton. We had Port's measure that year but couldn't kick straight against Central in the 1st Semi and went down. Then Port squeezed in by 6 points against Central in the Preliminary. Norwood also had a 38 point win over North, so had they got through it may have been interesting

[robranisgod]

1971 and 1972 North and Port were miles better than the other clubs.

In 1972, North Adelaide maybe, but not Port Adelaide. In 1972 Norwood played Port twice and won them both, including a 9 goal win at Alberton. We had Port's measure that year but couldn't kick straight against Central in the 1st Semi and went down. Then Port squeezed in by 6 points against Central in the Preliminary. Norwood also had a 38 point win over North, so had they got through it may have been interesting

All I know is that from half way through the year North and Port were comsidered by the media the only real contenders in 1972. Norwood may have beaten North by 38 points but Barrie didn't play that day. He is the only player I have ever seen worth more than 38 points to a side.

[Adelaide Hawk]

1971 and 1972 North and Port were miles better than the other clubs.

In 1972, North Adelaide maybe, but not Port Adelaide. In 1972 Norwood played Port twice and won them both, including a 9 goal win at Alberton. We had Port's measure that year but couldn't kick straight against Central in the 1st Semi and went down. Then Port squeezed in by 6 points against Central in the Preliminary. Norwood also had a 38 point win over North, so had they got through it may have been interesting

All I know is that from half way through the year North and Port were comsidered by the media the only real contenders in 1972. Norwood may have beaten North by 38 points but Barrie didn't play that day. He is the only player I have ever seen worth more than 38 points to a side.

Norwood had players out too you know

We did defeat the Magpies twice, so I fail to see how that made Port Adelaide clearly a better team, but there you go. It may interest you to learn that Port didn't make their way to 2nd on the ladder until round 18 in 1972, and at the end of rounds 8 to 12 (the half way mark), Norwood and Central District were the top two teams.

[robranisgod]

1971 and 1972 North and Port were miles better than the other clubs.

In 1972, North Adelaide maybe, but not Port Adelaide. In 1972 Norwood played Port twice and won them both, including a 9 goal win at Alberton. We had Port's measure that year but couldn't kick straight against Central in the 1st Semi and went down. Then Port squeezed in by 6 points against Central in the Preliminary. Norwood also had a 38 point win over North, so had they got through it may have been interesting

All I know is that from half way through the year North and Port were comsidered by the media the only real contenders in 1972. Norwood may have beaten North by 38 points but Barrie didn't play that day. He is the only player I have ever seen worth more than 38 points to a side.

Norwood had players out too you know

We did defeat the Magpies twice, so I fail to see how that made Port Adelaide clearly a better team, but there you go. It may interest you to learn that Port didn't make their way to 2nd on the ladder until round 18 in 1972, and at the end of rounds 8 to 12 (the half way mark), Norwood and Central District were the top two teams.

No one who was close to Barrie. If Barrie didn't play in those days Woodville could and did beat North two years in a row, and at that stage of history it had never happened before. North lost 3 of their first six, but once they got on a roll they were always going to be very hard to beat. In the second half of the year other than the thrashing at Prospect by Port I doubt that North lost a game. By the time of the finals Norwood similar to 1970 and 1971 had ran their race, but at least made the finals in 1972. You could see the gradual improvement in Norwood, by 1973 they were probably a little stiff to lose to Barrie, sorry North at the Parade in the first semi, they then sacked Oatey, but Hammond didn't really change their inability to progress through finals in 1974, but by 1975 he had.

It is a bit like Constance Perm questioning recently why North didn't perform better in 1997 given that they beat the eventual Premier Norwood and never lost to the runner up that year, Port. The simple reason is that when it came to the crunch they were never going to be good enough. A good team can beat a great team on a given day but the great team usually wins the grand final.

[dedja]

spot on robranisgod... case in point this year, Sturt have beaten Central twice but are they are serious contender for the flag?

[Adelaide Hawk]

No one who was close to Barrie. If Barrie didn't play in those days Woodville could and did beat North two years in a row, and at that stage of history it had never happened before. North lost 3 of their first six, but once they got on a roll they were always going to be very hard to beat. In the second half of the year other than the thrashing at Prospect by Port I doubt that North lost a game. By the time of the finals Norwood similar to 1970 and 1971 had ran their race, but at least made the finals in 1972. You could see the gradual improvement in Norwood, by 1973 they were probably a little stiff to lose to Barrie, sorry North at the Parade in the first semi, they then sacked Oatey, but Hammond didn't really change their inability to progress through finals in 1974, but by 1975 he had.

It is a bit like Constance Perm questioning recently why North didn't perform better in 1997 given that they beat the eventual Premier Norwood and never lost to the runner up that year, Port. The simple reason is that when it came to the crunch they were never going to be good enough. A good team can beat a great team on a given day but the great team usually wins the grand final.

Mate, my comments are not about North, they are about Port. They were not clearly the second best team in 1972, they just happened to make the Grand Final, by the skin of their teeth and lost miserably. I have presented a compelling argument to support this. Had Norwood have not lost SANFL Lead Goalkicker Coligan with a hamstring injury injury in the first minutes of the 1st semi, and had we kicked straight (12-19 to 19-7), we would have handled Port Adelaide comfortably in the Prelim.

I've already said I believe North were clearly the better team in 1972, but will never agree that Port were.