SANFLW Match Report – Round 11

It was another important week for our SANFLW girls, closing in on Finals and being within touch of the Top 4 meant that we needed to be at our best as we travelled to Noarlunga for face off against South Adelaide. We had 4 forced changes this week with Bec Owen, Hannah Button and Tess Huxtable all missing through injury and Georgie Pater missing through Suspension. Returning to the line up this week, was Grace McNicol, Paige Allan, Kendell Saffin and returning for her first game of the 2024 season was Iilish Ross.

We expected a highly contested game and knew that if we were going to win, needed to find a way to break South’s strong defense. Olivia Smith was able to push herself forward to find the first goal of the day, which South were quickly able to match, South only managed 1 more point for the quarter and that was the margin at the first break.

We started strongly, able to score 2 goals through Nicole Hooper and Molly Petersen squeezing through on a tight angle got us scoring 2 goals off our first 2 Inside 50’s for the quarter. Those 2 inside 50’s ended up being our only 2 of the quarter as South went on a rampage and had the next 5 scoring shots of the quarter to extend their lead slightly at the main break.

After the main break, we were able to gain some momentum back and Nicole Hooper was able to squeeze through the only goal of the 3^rd which gave us the lead back at the halfway point. South only managed the 1 behind for the quarter as our defence held strong and we were able to take a 5-point lead into the last quarter.

The last quarter was full of wasted opportunity. South kicked the only goal of the quarter at the half way point to score off their only inside 50 opportunity of the quarter. However, South had thrown a couple loose in defence and we weren’t able to make any real impact on the score board despite having the ball in our half for the majority of the quarter. South were able to hold on and win by 1-point.

Lucy Boyd was solid in defense, playing a lockdown role on one of South’s inform Forwards, while Chloe Tonkin benefited from a move into the ruck and finished with 18 disposals and 22 hit outs. Emma Chapman was also solid again and contested well all day.

3 games left of the season and now 1.5 games out of the Top 4 means that a lot of things will need to go right for us to play finals. However, we will take it week by week and look forward to travelling to Sturt on the weekend for the 2^nd week of First Nation’s Round this weekend.

Goals:
Nicole Hooper (2), Olivia Smith (1), Molly Petersen (1)

Best Players:
Lucy Boyd, Chloe Tonkin, Emma Chapman, Olivia Smith, Ella Maxwell, Emily Mableson

SANFLW Coach – Bruce Dawes