Olinda Women’s burst out of the blocks with a blistering first half against reigning premier Upwey Saturday night in the annual ANZAC game at Olinda Reserve, ultimately losing the contest by 7 points.
Olinda had spoken about intensity during the week and pre-game, and there was a noticeable lift in energy during the pre-game warm-up.
A stirring speech by skipper Claire Hyett had the girls charged, and they hit the opening bounce with fierce aggression. So fierce that new recruits Tayla McKay and Anna Hughson attacked the same contest in the first minute, and the sound of the sickening head clash reverberated around the ground. Both players came off with blood streaming from their faces, Tayla heading straight off to hospital with a suspected broken nose and Anna Hughson getting patched up with a lacerated forehead.
There is a quality spoken about at Olinda called “Bloods culture”, similar to the ANZAC spirit, and the courage shown by both girls was inspiring to all present.
Olinda was given a boost literally minutes before the game, with the inclusion to the side of young gun Georgia Stubs. This inclusion buoyed the spirits of the girls, and she made an immediate impact in the first quarter with her long kicking, high marking and incredible toughness at each contest. Olinda lost their Captain and dual best & fairest winner Maddi Collins in the off-season, who could always be relied on to provide grunt and brilliance in big moments. Enter new recruit Lucy Hilton. Lucy’s first game saw her inserted straight into the midfield and her presence was immediately noticeable. Lucy’s first contest, crashing a pack, winning the hard ball and delivering a pin-point pass brought exclamations from the crowd “Who was that?!”. Grunt and brilliance will be Lucy’s calling card for the Bloods this season, and hopefully, for many years to come. Another first-gamer and young gun Chloe Kanally only had her first training with the team on Thursday. Chloe’s friendly nature belies her fearlessness and skill, and she slotted effortlessly in with Olinda’s platoon of “smiling assassins”. Welcome to Bloods footy Georgia, Lucy and Chloe!
Leah (The Lion) Cody missed the first game and the team missed her toughness and presence at centre half-back. Leah is Olinda’s enforcer, and she was given the unenviable task Saturday night of standing Upwey captain and full forward of the year Alexandria Bantock. Although Bantock finished the evening with 2 goals, Leah won the battle, continually out-marking and out-muscling her opponent and delivering booming kicks out of defensive 50.
Lily (Laser) Carlin is one of the competition’s best kicks but is also tough, hard-working, courageous and quick. Lily fought with manic fervour for every possession Saturday night, getting many quality clearances.
Young prodigy Ruby Gilson has had a superb start to the season at half forward and got on the end of a free kick in the first quarter, and drilled a perfect drop punt from 30m to put Olinda in front. A mark from a miss-kick deep in Upwey’s forward pocket late in the quarter saw Alexandria Bantock lining up from an impossible angle. A lapse in concentration from Olinda let Bantock run around the mark to snap a great check-side goal, putting Upwey 1 point up at quarter time.
Not deterred, Olinda fought the 2nd quarter with the same desperate aggression as the 1st, holding Upwey scoreless. In a semi-comical moment, full back of the year Casey Seymour found herself rotated onto the half-forward flank due to a positional mix-up.
After being directed where this foreign position of the field actually was, Casey swooped on a loose ball in the goal square and dribbled through an uplifting goal. Olinda peppered the goals all quarter, only managing 1.4, and went into halftime with a 9-point lead.
Upwey received a rocket from their Coach at halftime and came out back to their premiership-winning intensity in the second half. Olinda was held scoreless in the 3rd quarter, the ball not even making it into Olinda’s forward line, while Upwey piled on 2.3, which ultimately decided the contest. The last quarter was an arm-wrestle as both sides fought valiantly, Upwey winning the quarter 3 points to 2.
Captain Courage Claire Hyett had a fantastic game, both in her leadership capacity and her customary effort in and under every contest and hard running. Claire was a deserved recipient of the ANZAC medal for Olinda.
Young Dynamo Kyah Barry had a great return to form back in the midfield with her speed, skill by foot and ferocious tackling.
Regular ruck supremo Chelsea (Big Kahuna) Wilson was battling illness coming into the game, and was named forward in the starting line-up, but the first-minute injury to Tayla McKay meant Chelsea had to share ruck responsibilities with regular ruck-rover Amalija Kostich Angerson. Both battled bravely all night and contributed well to Olinda’s performance.
Overall it was Olinda’s best performance since the corresponding game against Upwey on ANZAC Day last year, and sets the benchmark for the intensity Olinda will bring for the rest of the season.
Olinda will be chasing their first win versus Berwick Springs away next Saturday night.
