The senior women’s team headed out to Yarra Junction for the second time in 3 weeks to break the ice on the oval at 8:50am.
Still missing a few key players, this week the girls have been working on some structural elements of their game and ball movement. The midfield setup hasn’t been consistent all year, but the girls that set up for the first bounce on Saturday morning had developed a plan to generate clearances and get first use. After also working on forward entries, Junction proved that they were ready for power forward Phoebe Dixon, double and triple-teaming her at every contest. You can’t keep good forwards down though and she still managed to take marks and bring the ball to the ground. Her kicking accuracy didn’t reward her efforts and Olinda went into the first break trailing.
Olinda came to the first change not moving the ball with speed and it showed around the ground. The girls were asked to set up their ball movement from the contest and with that message, they saw better chains of play with more scoring opportunities in the second quarter. 5 scoring shots to 2 in the second should have seen them break away from a competitive and determined Eagles outfit but wasteful shots again kept the game tight with Olinda’s noses just in front.
After halftime, Junction was able to score and regain the lead as our ball movement fell away. They were also able to congest the forward line so repeated forward entries could not generate scores. It was tough and dour football played on Junction’s terms. The midfield was able to win the footy at the contest with pocket rockets Claire Hyett and Lily Carlin often winning first use from Amalija Kostich’s excellent tap work. Emmalee Keegan’s determination and second efforts on the wing and in defence prevented Junction from scoring repeatedly through the third and last quarter. Casey Seymour and Leah Cody continue to prove to be two of the most frugal defenders in the game. There is no way they will let loose balls past and now rookie hard nut Sophie Caldwell has joined them on their quest to kill opposition forward movement at all costs.
It is also really pleasing to see Laura Clarke and Maddie McCheyne develop their games providing flexibility around the ground for the coaches.
In the end, Junction was able to restrict Olinda’s forward entries from becoming scoring opportunities and despite winning the quarter, Olinda couldn’t kick straight and sneak off with the win. There’s a heap to take away from the match and the players felt that even though it was a disappointing loss, there are elements of our game that are developing that will make them tougher competition against the competition leaders.
On to ladder leaders Upwey this week to see if they can repeat the efforts from earlier in the season.
