Women's Round 4 Wrap-up

RESERVES

With heavy rain throughout the day and thunderstorms forecast for the evening, the Reserves team headed off to Claremont Oval for a swim meet rather than a footy match. While the conditions made it difficult to play clean footy, our players fought as hard as ever for every metre gained and every scoring point made. Unfortunately, the Tigers’ experience proved to be their strength, and they ran the game out by 20 points.

In the first quarter we were quick out of the middle with Amber Ugle-Hayward putting six points on the board, but from there the ball spent most of the time in the Tigers’ forward. The pressure in the backline was intense, but the determined hustle of team captain, Trish Medwin, and TiahnaScandrett, meant that Claremont weren’t able to kick for goal unhindered, resulting in five straight points.

We went into the second quarter slightly in front and once again the ball came quickly into our 50. We were unable to convert and the ball bounced around our half, thanks to the strong marking work of Zoe Smith on the rebound. Unfortunately, unable to make the most of our first few attempts to lock it in, the Tigers took advantage of a gap in our wall and ran it into their forward to kick their second goal. In the dying minutes of the quarter, an insane tackle by Kelly Keane resulted in a final push for goals, but the siren sounded before her efforts paid dividends.

At half time, now behind by 7 points, the statistics showed that we were winning the clearances but we weren’t getting the numbers to the ball to move it into our 50. The coaches encouraged the players to have the courage to pick the ball up, getting down low early to gather with both hands. Mention was made of two-gamer, Courtney McDaniel, who used her body fiercely around the competition to hit the packs the hardest. The players were reminded to keep moving the ball forward, even if it came from spills due to the difficult weather conditions.

The coaches’ words hit home and we showed that we’d been listening with the midfield having a strong impact around the ball, led by Isabel Strover in her first game moving from Rogers Cup into the Reserves team for the Falcons. Claremont’s frustration showed in a double 50 awarded to Kat Bennett, who became a target from there on for some underhanded mauling. At the end of the third quarter we’d won both the clearances and the inside 50s, but Claremont’s more experienced and seasoned players meant they were able to convert where we weren’t, and they extended their lead.

The team played for the love of footy and the Falcon’s fighting spirit in the last quarter. Our forward entries were hard fought, and Kat Bennett managed to wipe a snarl off the faces of a few prowling tigers with a booming goal that earned her a huge applause from the crowd. Our Reserves gave everything to the red and blue, but alas, the game ended with a win to Claremont.

Over the last two games, we’ve picked up some valuable lessons. We know that we have the fitness, skills and heart to run out a game against teams benefiting from the boon of a women’s League side. More importantly, we know that next week against Subiaco, we must drive for the goals and make the most of those opportunities every chance we get. Clearances and inside 50s matter, but goals win games. We might have let the Tigers take a swipe at us this round, but we sure as hell will make sure we apply the lessons of our past to de-claw some Lions next round.

ROGERS CUP

Where else would you want to be on a cold, wet and windy Sunday morning? Well we headed to East Fremantle Oval to take on the sharks, and we learnt that taking on sharks in the wet didn’t work in our favour as our young Falcons who mounted a last quarter charge missed by 3 points in a scrappy but expected game, final result East Fremantle 2.5 (17) to West Perth 2.2 (14).

The game opened with the rain coming down and it didn’t let up for the full four quarters and neither did the relentless tackling from both sides. The ball spent most of the time between the 50 arcs as each teams defence held up under the pressure, Lilianna Grassenis again showed her form over the last couple of weeks is going to stand up to the toughest test by holding out the most dangerous forward for East Fremantle. Leuk Nelson-Marsden also showed early that she was going to relish the conditions, reading the ball well in the contested situations better than most. The 1^stquarter score reflected how hard the day was going to be with East Freo grabbing the lead from two behinds 0.2 (2) to 0.0 (0).

The second quarter was a repeat of the first, with Tarzara Kelly also showing her ability to get in and under and win the hard-ball giving Falcons several opportunities to make ground, Caitlin Thomas, yet another 2020 debutant was showing that even in the toughest conditions her footy was going to hold up, by collecting several early possessions across the half-forward line, the last line of defence for the sharks proving strong enough to prevent the Falcons from capitalizing on any foray forward. So by half time and the call of a nice dry, warm changeroom beckoning the sharks had edge a few more points clear to lead 0.5 (5) to 0.0 (0).

With a revived energy levels and the coaches instructions reset and of course the rain still coming down, players picked up where they left off with hard fought contests. There were several occasions where West Perth were able to show how quickly they could move the ball in open field, again to be thwarted by the dire defence of East Fremantle, there was a moment when the scoreboard drought for West Perth could be broken when Elissa Price broke free inside 50 and an attempted soccer was caught by the goalie from East Fremantle. The Falcons backs were also doing a great job of holding out any Shark attacks too, with Ebony Jackson and Ava Martin providing good attack on the ball from deep in defence, which allowed the likes of Tarzara, who continued to relish the conditions and turn in a Best on ground performance. Unfortunately, East Fremantle did crack the defence for a solitary scoring shot, which sadly was a goal, so the margin grew to 11 points and a big effort required in the last.

 The call was answered, and it was loud, Holly Morris who not only provided the back-up to Sarah Henderson in ruck, but was put up forward and down back showed great strength to help drive the ball forward to allow, Lilianna who had been swung forward jumped on a loose ball to kick the Falcons first goal after a near miss which bought the margin to 4 points and a thrilling finish was unfolding. The pressure that West Perth were applying was allowing the game to open up a bit more, which did result in a goal against the flow of play and again give the sharks a 10 point buffer with half a quarter to go, and when Tahli Wilkins who had been one of the best for the day kicked long and true for the falcons second for the quarter the margin was back to 4 and another shot that just drifted wide for another agonising point, the Red and Blue army that were in the stands were doing all they could to will the team over the line, alas a sequence of soccer kicks allowed East Fremantle to clear the area and hold on to what finished an exciting end to a wet and windy day. Final score East Fremantle 2.5 (17) to West Perth 2.2 (14).