Rogers Cup Round 4

Our undefeated Rogers Cup Falcons took on the Winless Thunder, but a number of key injuries, Isabella Hill (ankle), Mia Russo (Hamstring), Abbey Brimson (knee), Samara Sallie. (Concussion), and add the late outs Madison Taylor (thumb), Kyra Abbott (Hamstring awareness), it was a lot closer contest than many would have thought.

But, this young side embodies the core values of the club, first and foremost they are resilient, play with great spirit, put a lot of trust in each other and are a very selfless group prepared to put the team first, which is why West Perth stretched the start to 2023 to 4-0 on the back of grinding out a tough win 4.6 (30) to Peel 3.4 (22).

Ella Feist set the standard early with a very hot start repelling across the midfield and was often seen deep in defence doing the same. Paige Dodunski followed the example and was seen many times sprinting at the ball from half back and setting up attacks and grabbing the odd intercept mark along the way.

Jamarah Woods and Acting Captain Kaitlyn Roper were providing a lot of pressure and clearances in the midfield and Chloe Shearing was the beneficiary when she marked just inside 50 and ran around to kick the opening goal from 35metres out

West Perth continued to dominate early territory as Peel struggled to get past centre.

West Perth continued the all-out attack in the second quarter as Peel now struggled to clear out of their defensive 50, Elli van den Broeke scored on second set shot attempt. Tayla Anthony was working hard as defensive forward, Jazlyn Lihou was very active in her debut game. Mia Robis continued her good start to the season with her run and ability to win the contested ball. Molly Conroy scored from 35m out and would have given the Falcons a 20 point lead heading into the main break, if it wasn’t for a last gasp goal on the siren from Peel.

Zara Deschamps was marshalling the troops in the backline and add to that her ability to read the play and be able to spoil any forwards attempts to mark.  Jekylah Gartlett, and Amber Rundle always manage to cleanup across the last line.

After the break it became a real tough contested game Kaitlyn Roper was leading by example with strong tackles and hard running. Kiahn Perry’s strength and run are a feature of her game and they come to the fore when the intensity in the game goes up. Sophie Fisher again moved onto the ball and had a big influence both in the ruck and around the ground with her marking.

Peel were able to finally break the deadlock in the quarter when they were able to string a couple of quick runs to get a player out the back and goal.

Olivia Bonsack played with a lot of confidence all day in one of her best games.

While the last quarter started as a bit of a scramble, West Perth were able to work down the field, where Chanel Scott cleverly snapped a goal from a stoppage in the pocket.

Peel were able to answer back after receiving some help courtesy of a 50metre penalty.

The last part of the game was fairly tense as Peel threw everything at a tiring Falcons, but this team know how to dig deep and while they were unable to land a killer blow, they did show greater desperation and were good enough to outlast Peel to win by 8 points and grab the top spot on the ladder.