Norwood has snared the prized signature of triple Magarey Medallist James Allan, who will play with the Redlegs in 2014.
After failing to come to an agreement with his former SANFL club North Adelaide, Allan had been heavily linked with Glenelg.
But the 28-year-old has joined the 2013 premier as he seeks to finish his illustrious SANFL career with a premiership medallion.
‘’We’re excited to have him,’’ Norwood football operations manager Mark Ross said.
‘’He will bring a lot of excitement along with (Brisbane recruit) Callum Bartlett. We will probably look a bit different to last year as we had a lot bigger and stronger bodies whereas these boys
(Allan and Bartlett) have probably got a bit more skill and class about their game.
‘’They can use the ball really well going inside 50m too.’’
Initially declaring Norwood was unlikely to pursue Allan, Ross said a lengthy chat with the Victorian confirmed he would be a good fit at The Parade.
‘’It was probably not changing our minds – it was just that we didn’t know enough (about Allan’s intentions),’’ Ross said.
‘’We wanted to make sure someone who is 28, going on 29 is able to adapt to what it is we do. We needed to find out what he has experienced in the past from coaches. How he has received
feedback? How has he received line meetings? And how he has received one-on-one feedback and those sorts of things?
‘’So how was he going to fit into an organisation which is big on feedback?
‘’Then there was what he was looking for personally. When we realised he wanted some success, wanted to learn about leadership and wanted to become a coach one day it became more appealing to us as you are bringing someone into your organisation with leadership qualities.
‘’That is really important to us because we have lost a few leaders this year like (Brett) Zorzi, (Mat) Suckling and Alex Georgiou.’’
With Norwood able to recruit just two players from outside the club ‘s promotional zone due to penalties for breaching the salary cap, Ross said addressing the midfield was the priority.
‘’Obviously the boy can play and we are in the need for midfielders,’’ Ross said.
‘’We spoke to a number of different players and we would have been happy to have any of them in other years but we have a recruiting restriction so in the end we went for two genuine mids.’’
After winning three Magarey Medals with North Adelaide in 2007, 2010 and 2011, Allan played alongside his brother Sam for his hometown of Lara in country Victoria this year.
His presence at Norwood should add plenty of spice to next year’s Anzac Day clash when he lines up against his former club for the first time on April 25.
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