2011 second SEMI-FINALSTAT CHAT CENTRAL DISTRICT v NORWOOD By Robert LaidlawFor the second consecutive season Central District andNorwood meet in the Second Semi-Final, with lastyear’s clash the first time they have played against eachother in the double-chance game.And with the two teams playing off in the 2010 GrandFinal, Norwood has now become the first club to playagainst the Bulldogs in every type of Final, and withCentral’s two victories last season, the Finals ledger is tiedat 5-5.The Bulldogs today will be trying to win its 12thconsecutive Second Semi, which is the most straight yearsany team has won any type of Final, the second best is PortAdelaide’s six straight Grand Final successes from 1954.On the back of its current streak Central has an amazing12-2 win-loss record in Second Semi-finals to be the bestperformed side in such Finals, with only Port Adelaide (26-22) having more victories.In contrast, Norwood has one of the worse SecondSemi-Final records, with just five victories from 19 games,and has the lowest score with 2.5 against Port’s 10.17in 1988.From its most recent five premiership years, Norwoodhas only won one Second Semi – 1982, while three timesit has recovered from losses to win the Grand Final, in1975 (Glenelg), 1978 (Sturt) and 1997 (Port).The highest Second Semi-Final score was PortAdelaide’s 24.20 against Sturt in 1980, with no teamreaching the 20 goal mark since the Eagles 20-13 againstthe Magpies in 1994.Four times a losing Second Semi-Final team has kicked16 goals, the record highest Norwood’s 16.14 againstSouth (19.16) in 1938. The Redlegs also have the fourthmark with 16.10 to Glenelg (18.14) in 1975.Since the very first Second Semi-Final in 1931, whereSturt beat the Magpies by a point, there have been 13games decided by less than a goal. The Bulldogs have apair of two-point wins in the past decade, against theEagles in 2004 and against Glenelg in 2009.In a four-year period Norwood was involved in threeclose Second Semis, beating Port by three points in 1947,losing to Torrens the following year by the same margin,then triumphing over Glenelg by five points in ‘50.Norwood’s Darren Pfeiffertakes a strong mark.From the 77 Second Semis contested since 1931, thewinner has gone on to win the flag 51 times, while theloser has rebounded to win 18 premierships.TEN YEARS AGO2001 – Central District 19.10 (124) d Eagles 15.9 (99)The 2001 Second Semi-Final between Central Districtand Woodville-West Torrens started as an arm-wrestle,with the Bulldogs breaking the game open with five goalsin the final 12 minutes of the first quarter, to go 28 pointsup at the first break.Central had all the answers the rest of the way, withMartin McKinnon best for the Bulldogs, and MichaelStevens, Daniel Healy and Simon Arnott booted threegoals each, while for the Eagles, Nick Pesch was thehardest worker and Ken McGregor kicked four majors.FIVE YEARS AGO2006 – Central District 13-5 (83) d Eagles 6-11 (47)After Central District dominated Woodville-West Torrensfrom 2000 to 2005, with eight consecutive Finals victories,it looked like the Eagles would finally taste success inSeptember after a dominant 2006.But the hoodoo continued in the Second Semi-Final,when the Bulldogs won by 36 points, in spite of onlyhaving one more scoring shot. The game was over at halftime when Central led 9.3 to 1.5. Richard Cochrane wasbest for the victors, while Chad O’Sullivan booted fourgoals.8Test your local footy knowledgeYou can now place a bet on all SANFL matches: head-to-head andpremiership winner. Call 13 19 39, visit your local TAB or log on to TattsBet.comGamble Responsibly.
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