On Sunday 14th August 2022 at Elsternwick Park, the Women’s Seniors, followed the Reserves to Grand Final victory and, on the back of an undefeated season, became both Premiers and Champions! Lachlan Worthy reports on the match.
Well, it was back to the home of VAFA football, Elsternwick Park, to take on Parkdale for the fourth time this season. With our hearts full of joy and excitement following the Reserves heart stopping win, we bounded out of the gates early as Brit snapped a goal in the first two minutes. From then on, in the first half, we played tentative, reactionary football and let Parkdale dictate the play. They moved the ball with quick hands and strong marking and kept our defence under enormous pressure. We found it difficult to make those connections and hit targets in space. But despite all that effort Parkdale were only able to come up with one goal and we went into half time all square.
The break gave us a chance to reset, gain some composure and settle down into our style of football. With Binni moving into the ruck we were able to replicate the first quarter with Brit’s right foot banana snap bouncing kindly to open the scoring in the first minute. That seemed to give us a spark and it wasn’t long after that Maddi W swooped on a loose ball in the goal square for her first of the day and when Meg’s swirling snap from the pocket went through, the crowd behind the goals went berserk.
Liv, Meg and Bron worked tirelessly in the middle to shut down the Parkdale run and began to give us opportunities to go forward. Our defence remained rock solid as Maddy P, Tay, Chels and the tackle machine Angie gave Parkdale nothing.
Into the last quarter, while Parkdale still had some fight, the intensity began to drop and we were able to keep the ball in our forward half for the majority of the quarter. A quick snap from a marking contest in the goal square gave Vic her first and that was followed by Maddi W getting on the end of a great pass from Tia to put the game well out of Parkdale’s grasp.
When the siren went the players and supporters broke out in celebrations all over the ground. This put a giant full stop to one of the most extraordinary and wonderfully rewarding seasons I’ve ever been involved in.
SBMT: 1.0.6 1.1.7 4.1.25 6.3.39
Parkdale: 1.0.6 1.1.7 1.2.8 1.2.8
Goals: 2 Brit, 2 Maddi W, 1 each to Meg and Vic
Best: Brit, Liv S, Maddy P, Maddy T, Meg, Binni
