Another glorious Sunday and another excellent game of footy from our girls. They just get better and better every week! On home turf against an opposition that didn’t look quite as enormous as previous weeks, there was an air of optimism that it might just be the week that it would happen (you all know what I’m talking about of course). Coach Rob introduced a new approach- FEED – Fun, Experience, Education and Discipline, but the big message this week was to try and score. It seemed that Captain Stella and her team listened carefully to Dad’s instructions…
Georgia was brilliant in defence in the first quarter – she sure can boot the ball that girl! It may just be me but out on the field Charli and Georgia look very alike, and with their pony-tails covering their numbers it’s hard to tell who’s got the ball, but there was definitely some excellent play from Charli too. Audrey got some great handballs off to the trusty Ruby T, and Stella, the tackling machine, worked hard. Now I don’t know about everyone else, but when the girls got that ball into our forward fifty about halfway through the first term, I got pretty excited! The ball was turned over but the girls continued to fight hard in the centre with great efforts from Lucy, Chloe, Phoebe and Willow. There was a great handball from Tiarni and pick up from Scarlett in defence to end a solid first quarter of footy.
The second quarter saw the good work of the first continue. There were noticeably less stoppages this week compared with previous weeks and we saw far more marking, handballing and kicking. Jasmyn made an impact early in the quarter and Willow, Audrey, Scarlett and Tamara all contributed to a great defensive effort. Ruby T was like a general in defence with some beautiful kicking and overall defensive pressure. Sienna worked very hard in the contests and Stella continued to make it hard for the opposition. The quarter was wrapped up with some very smooth play between Chloe and Georgia. A great first half of footy from the girls.
There was a change in the defensive group for the third quarter and they threw themselves into it. Ruby P, Jasmyn, Tamara aka Tim Tam and Sienna all worked hard to shut down the attack of Bentleigh. It was great to see Lily use her height in the ruck and the same could be said for Sienna. Sachi, Lucy and Tiarni all worked hard and the highlight of the quarter was an outstanding mark on the defensive 50m line from Chloe!
After one final plea from Rob at three-quarter time to try and score this game it finally happened… receiving a great handball from Audrey (which she noted was our first ever ‘goal-assist’) Ruby raced to the goal square with the opposition on her tail and booted it through the big ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could have been excused for thinking Rovers had just won the grand final based on the cheering from the sidelines, but it certainly was a moment to remember! Well done Ruby! But the great play didn’t stop there. Buoyed by getting on the board the girls showed us how much their skills have improved over the past few weeks with some awesome kicking and tackling. Ruby P and Phoebe combined on a couple of occasions and Agatha got in on the action too. I’ll only use it once, but Stella put in a stellar performance late in the last with a brilliant smother and tackle after tackle. It was great to see Lily, Sachi, Scarlett and Tiarni all getting in there and giving it their all. What a great game of footy!
It may not have been a win, but everyone was just as happy in the rooms after the game! The girls who have been named captain each week have had brilliant games and Stella was no exception. Stella made a great captain’s choice in Sienna who worked hard all day for an award. Georgia deserved her award for trying hard all day as did Ruby who played an outstanding game of footy in the midfield, defence and of course, it has to be mentioned again… kicking our first goal!!!!!!!!! Many thanks to Rob, Mark and all of the parent volunteers for their great work once again.
Written by Olivia Cook (Audrey Hanson’s mum)
You must be logged in to post a comment.