SANFLW Match Report – Round 9

Heading in we knew that Round 9 was going to be another tough weekend as we travelled down to Woodville to face the Eagles. We’d lost another 3 players due to injury and also young stars to the U18 State team which meant we were really going to put our young team in under some immense pressure from the Eagles who were coming off a solid win against Norwood the week before.

Unfortunately, we went in this week without Bec Owen due to some knee soreness, Lucy Boyd injured her foot previously against South Adelaide and Nicole Hooper unfortunately didn’t pull up from a sore calf. We also lost Lauren Young and Ruby Ballard to State duties. Coming into the team this week was Kendell Saffin and Annie Brearley who made their SANFLW debut. Iilish Ross returned to the side after coming off a 1-week suspension and Paris Francis made her long-awaited return to the League side.

A slow start saw the Eagles kick 3 quick goals early to put the home team in front with some momentum, and it looked like it was going to be a long day. Fortunately, after the 10-minute mark we were able to control some of the momentum back. Gemma Houghton kicked our first for the day with a freaky over the shoulder effort to give the Eagles a 2-goal lead heading into quarter time.

The next 2 quarters were toughly contested with no side being able to take control. Each team had their opportunities but defense held strong. Only 2 behinds were scored between both sides for quarter 2 and 3 which meant there was a 13-point Eagles lead going into the last quarter.

With plenty of fight left in them, our girls rallied from behind to put the pressure on the Eagles. Gemma Houghton marked and finished a set shot to reduce the margin to a goal, and a beautiful follow up play from Lily Johnson kicked our 2^nd of the quarter and scores were level with 7 minutes to go. Eagles found their feet in the last portion of the quarter but our defense held strong and the game finished in a draw.

Zoe Venning found plenty of the ball and finished with 33 disposals. Asha Dufour had a breakout game having 26 disposals. Tiana Fernandez and Jess Chyer were also outstanding in defense throughout the game with their defensive pressure.

We also farewell our 2 Port stars Gemma Houghton and Lily Johnson who head back to Port to begin their preseason. We appreciate both of their contribution to the club over the last 2 months.

Next week we travel to Wigan Oval to take on Sturt at 2:50pm, Saturday 6^th May as we head into our final 3 rounds of 2023.

Score: Woodville 3.3 (21) drew with West Adelaide 3.3 (21)

Goals: Gemma Houghton (2), Lily Johnson (1)

Best Players: Tiana Fernandez, Zoe Venning, Jess Chyer, Asha Dufour, Lily Johnson