SANFLW League Match Report – Round 11

Round 11 saw us face off against current League Leaders North Adelaide, after securing the win against them in Round 1, we knew that we were going to have to give it everything we had to make sure we had the same outcome.

This week we had a handful of changes to the team. We welcomed back Veteran Ruck, Kate Walsh to the side as well as both the Kustermann sisters who were able to take the field together for the first time in their careers. We also welcomed back the always tough Charlie Scutchings returning from State duties and injected a bit of pace into the forward line with Paris Francis also returning to the league side.

We came out of the gates firing with our first shot on goal coming within the first few minutes of the game. North Adelaide was able to make the most out of their chances inside the forward 50 kicking the only goal of the quarter. Keeley Kustermann came back into the side with 9 disposals in the first quarter. Despite having most of the ball inside our forward half North Adelaide took a 4-point lead into the first break.

North Adelaide gained momentum again in the second quarter as we knew they would, having 5 scoring shots to 0 in the second quarter alone, inaccurate kicking meant that our girls were still right in the game. Defence held up strong applying plenty of pressure with Skipper Madi Russell having 7 disposals for the quarter. Beatrice Devlyn also found a bit of the ball while Kate Walsh got on top in the ruck and gave our midfielders every chance of getting the ball forward.

North again came out firing after half time, kicking 2 unanswered goals to extend their lead. To our girl’s credit they never gave up, wrestling back momentum and kicking the last 2 goals of the quarter to put us right back where we were at half time. Louie McCarthy and veteran Nicole Hooper were our goalkickers which brought the deficit down to 14 points heading into the last quarter.

With nothing left to lose, the girls were up for a big challenge to try and get our 2nd win of the season. North again were inaccurate from some great defensive pressure and we were able to get the first goal on the board after a great diving mark from Nicole Hooper who slotted it through for her second of the game. North were able to get on top in the last few minutes to put the game out of reach and although the final score wasn’t in our favour, wasn’t a true indication of how hard our ladies worked for the duration of the game.

Keeley Kustermann was superb in her return to the club with 25 disposals and 18 contested possessions. Lily Johnson had a breakout game on the wing with 17 disposals and 11 marks and Beatrice Devlyn was great again in defence with 17 disposals.

Best Players: k. Kustermann, N. Hooper, L. Johnson, B. Devlyn, A. Dufour

Goal Kickers: N. Hooper 2, L. McCarthy 1