Round 7 Hostplus SANFL League Snapshot – Friday night

Adelaide stamped itself as one of the Hostplus SANFL League’s genuine contenders with a statement-making 33-point win against Woodville-West Torrens at Maughan Thiem Kia Oval.

Now sitting at the top of the table with a 6-1 win-loss record, the Crows spoiled the Eagles’ historic night under lights at Oval Avenue by coasting home in the fourth quarter.

Leading by just one-point at the final change, the visitors piled on 5.4 while restricting the reigning premier to just two behinds in the last term to bank the premiership points in impressive fashion.

Ruckman Reilly O’Brien was outstanding with 35 disposals, 11 marks 13 clearances and a staggering 172 Ranking Points to be the best player on the field as he did his chances of an AFL recall no harm.

O’Brien provided midfielders Matt Crouch (36 disposals, nine clearances), Harry Schoenberg (27 disposals) and Luke Pedlar (21 disposals) with plenty of opportunities as captain Matt Wright loomed large inside 50m to boot three goals.

Crow Wayne Milera had an encouraging 20 disposals while teammate Patrick Parnell impressed with his ball use while accumulating 15 touches.

Eagle Daniel Menzel continually tried to keep his team in the game, kicking four of his five goals in the third term, including a beauty straight out of the ruck.

Former Crow Riley Knight (26 disposals) and reliable Sam Rowland (25 disposals) worked hard for the hosts in the first official night game at Woodville but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide after the last break.

Norwood outmuscled Central District in the middle to record a solid 21-point win at The Parade.

Led by a massive performance in the ruck by West End State bigman Harry Boyd, the Redlegs’ midfield unit overwhelmed the Dogs at the source to eventually wear them down in the final term.

Rapidly-developing Boyd finished with a stunning 32 disposals and 14 clearances to go with his 47 hit outs as the Legs won the overall clearance count by 42 to 28.

Boyd also racked up six inside 50s and five rebound 50s to work hard both ways as he brought his midfielders into the game, ensuring Nik Rokahr (32 disposals), Matt Nunn (28 disposals), Jay Rantall (25 disposals) and Josh Richards (24 disposals) would also be prominent.

Clever small forward Baynen Lowe enjoyed his best game at SANFL level for Norwood, booting four goals including a thrilling contender for 7News Adelaide Goal of the Year from the boundary line.

Former Central players Jackson Kelly, Connor McLean and Tom Graham would have also enjoyed defeating their former club in front of their new home fans.

Desperate to respond to their 98-point loss in Round 6, the Bulldogs were much more fierce around the contest and could have won the match if not for a bit more polish given they only had four fewer inside 50 entries.

Billy Iles (22 disposals) and Kyle Presbury (21 disposals) led the way on the stats sheet as Ethan East and Fraser Fort booted two goals each for the visitors.