Despite, ultimately going down by eight points, Olinda women’s team blew off the cobwebs with a tough round one contest versus Pakenham away.
Olinda won the toss and kicked into a stiff breeze, believing their last quarters to generally be stronger than their first.
The game went to script, with each team kicking with the breeze winning each of the first 3 quarters.. Olinda went into the last quarter 4 points in deficit and was confident in overrunning the home side kicking with the breeze. Pakenham had another idea, and fought tooth and nail in defence to continually repel Olinda attacks, with the ball spending most of the quarter in Olinda’s half of the ground. Olinda peppered the goals but could only manage behinds or out of bounds on the full.
An anomaly occurred late in the quarter as Olinda switched half back dynamo Kyah Barry up forward to get into the thick of the action. This resulted in Pakenham having a loose player in attack for one minute. Unfortunately for Olinda, that loose player kicked two goals in that one minute and it was effectively game over. A late goal to Olinda’s Amalija Kostich-Angerson reduced the final margin to eight points in Pakenham’s favour. It was a disappointing result for Olinda against a team they defeated three times last season, but there were many positives to come out of the game…
Olinda debuted five players in the game, three from the junior ranks. Olivia Edwards, Tayla McKay, Kaesha Christie, Anja Hulston and Jacqueline Ring all have bright futures for the club.
Claire Hyett played her first game as permanent captain of the team, and unsurprisingly turned in a best on ground performance. Claire’s effort behind the scenes, at training and on gameday is unquestionable, and by word or deed, she will be a great leader for the club.
Olinda’s forward line was almost unrecognizable from last year, with deep forward pillars (DJ) Ness Bateman and Olivia (The Weapon!) Edwards showing great synergy, continually looking for and finding each other to create a plethora of scoring opportunities. These two will have a breakout game at some stage during the season and it will be worth the price of admission to watch! Ruby Gilson played as a dual centre half forward with Taylor McKay, and also had a hand in creating plenty of scoring opportunities, as well as being ferocious towards Pakenham’s defence when they tried to clear the ball. Kaesha Christie had a great first game for the team at half forward, and frequently got involved and looked dangerous.
Lily Carlin was prodigious all game, and was relentless with her running into space, lethal kicking and tackling.
Amalija(Mars) Kostich-Angerson does everything in a game, marks, kicks long and tackles hard but her game awareness and football IQ is perhaps her biggest strength. The best moment in the game came in the second quarter when forward Issy Dennis was awarded a well-earned free kick 35 metres out from goal. Issy was not confident in making the distance, and sensing this, Mars sprinted past and received the handball to slot the goal.
Full back Casey Seymour is effectively the Captain/Coach of Olinda’s backline. Casey is unassuming, and would rather drive home having not seen the football, but the team having a big win. This is unrealistic, and Casey is often left alone deep to repel multiple scoring drives, sometimes outnumbered. She is rarely, if ever beaten by her direct opponent. It was business as usual for Casey on Saturday, beating her direct opponent, as well as others, and repelling several scoring attacks.
Ruck Chelsea Wilson got her hands on almost every ball up and was also effective with her ground ball work, tackling and long kicking.
Runners Emmalee Keegan and Kyah Barry were busy all day with their contested work and ball delivery.
First gamer Jackie Ring had a great moment when she attacked a ground ball at speed, scooped it up in one hand and blind-turned out of the contest.
Special mention to Madeline McCheyne who decided to step away from football and concentrate on work during the off season, only to recatch the bug after watching the first practice game. Mads has come back rejuvenated and is a brutal competitor, and is becoming evermore dangerous by hand and foot.
Every other Olinda player got their hands on the ball and contributed to the contest, which is always the goal.
The team will make some tweaks and come back better in the weeks to come.
