The sun was shining brightly for our return to ‘The Home of Football’, Boss James Reserve. The girls had been moved to the experienced division following the completion of the grading games and we knew before showing up on Sunday that more stern competition was coming our way. The girls were taking on the East Brighton Vampires top U10 girls team after comprehensively outplaying their second team the week prior.
Lealah was introduced and welcomed to the team prior to the game which took us to a full list of 18. Hannah and Tess were announced as our captains for the day and won the toss to give us first use of the breeze.
Right from the first bounce it was evident that our girls were going to be put under maximum pressure by the opposition. The Vampires got the early jump on our girls and were able to kick two goals into the breeze. Our backline was doing their best with the midfield working hard to get the ball forward. Fortunately, Jasmyn B was able to kick a steadying goal to show some reward for the hard work of our girls. Audrey H came off with what looked to be a badly injured arm in the first quarter, but was able to prove to the coach that she was able to come back on later in the game by punching out 10 push ups.
It was evident that the lolly incentive that was put in place pre-game was driving the motivation of the girls as they continued to get two players to the contest on many occasions as we rolled into the second quarter. Jazzey C moved forward and put on a great display by kicking two goals for the quarter into the breeze. The Vampires were unrelenting and also kicked two goals despite our backline working hard. Nothing more could be asked of our girls at half time as their effort across the ground had been outstanding.
The bottle neck in the middle proved to be a real issue in the third quarter as the ball stayed in their for the bulk of the 10 minutes. We will never agree to having six girls in the middle zone again as the game was playing out more like a rugby than an AFLW match despite us being very strong in the middle with Jasymn B, Jazzey C and Hannah and the other mids working hard to get the ball forward. There were no goals kicked by either side in the third quarter and the numbers in the middle were reduced for the fourth.
The game had turned into an arm wrestle and at three-quarter time the girls were encouraged to keep up their work rate. After strong play in the middle from our girls the ball was going forward for us once again. Jazzey C was able to capitalise and slotted a great goal on the run. Hannah’s shot from the boundary line just missed and our girls had all the momentum. It was only very late in the game that the Vampires were able to go forward and managed to kick a goal inside 10 seconds of the final siren to stop our girls from singing the Rovers song.
All in all, it was a very strong display from all of our girls and they have now shown that they are up to playing against sides who are far more experienced. There was some real courage shown by many of our players with Audrey H, Audrey P, Lealah and Cate all able to come back onto the ground after being hurt and shaken up at various stages of the game. We hope that Lealah enjoyed her debut match and she will continue to be made welcome by all involved with the team.
The all-important tackle count was led by Jazzey C, Jess W, Tara and Sienna who all did really well to keep the pressure on the Vampires all day. Coaches awards were given to Bianca, Tess, Poppy and Jess T who all displayed great team work and determination on the day. A big ‘well done’ to Jazzey C who was given an award as our best player by the Vampires coach. The girls will all receive their bag of lollies at training during the week due to their effort to have two girls tackle opposition players on 27 occasions.
Sean Brady – Coach
