St Mary’s back on the winners list, OT’s retain top spot

Alisha Min

Back on the winners list and back with a bang, St Mary’s Salesian have taken down one of William Buck Premier women’s heavyweights, Kew, to the tune of 37 points in front of their Saints faithful at Ferndale Park. With the former heading into this match-up with three consecutive losses to their name, and the latter coming off their first loss of the season in Round 5, it was a tight grapple between the Saints and the Bears in the opening term with only a point differential at the first break in Kew’s favour. Taking the game in their stride shortly thereafter, St Mary’s took possession dominance in the second and kicked away through Rachel Gill (1) and Madeleine Stanley’s (1) respective goals, to form a handy two-goal buffer at the half. Though the Bears pressure on the ball-carrier was evident throughout, demonstrated by their side’s 40 tackles for the match, ten extra inside 50’s in the Saints favour, plus 50 additional disposals, gave the home side significantly more opportunities to score and put the game out of reach. With three goals off Stephanie Lawrence’s boot, and teammate Jennifer Lew doing plenty with a game-high 26 disposals, five tackles and an incredible nine forward 50 entries (a third of St Mary’s total entries for the match), the Saints have marched back onto our radars in this section. For the defeated, a special shout out to our 50 game milestone player, Isabelle Harding, who was all class with her 17 disposals.

Down by 11 points at 3QT in a low-scoring affair at Ramsden Street Oval, defeat was looming for red-hot Marcellin before a blistering three goal final term saw the Sheagles nab the four premiership points, for a second consecutive week, over a disappointed Fitzroy-ACU. The Roy Girls put their foot down early in this contest, putting away two goals straight through Holly Francis (1) and Ruby Condon (2) to Marcellin’s one, before a stalemate second quarter saw little change the scoreboard come halftime. After Fitzroy-ACU extended their lead in the third, the Sheagles were in for a tough challenge in the fourth – but with the goalkicking talents of Shaylee Taylor (3) up forward, plus Tessa Zagontinos and Alana Pane looking dangerous with 19 possessions apiece, Marcellin were able to bring their second win for 2019 home. For the disappointed Roy Girls, who now it 1-5 for the year, the explosive Teresa “Razor” Zampaglione was again amongst the best thanks to her 23 disposals and five forward 50 entries, while Gemma Minuz was stoic in defence with nine tackles and Tash Ross-Harris impressed with 62 hitouts.

A top-of-the-table clash went down at Hudson Oval this week, and after a congested opening quarter, it was first placed Old Trinity who put the foot on the accelerator and raced to a 15-point victory over SKOB Saints. With only a point recorded for each side in the game’s opener, the OT’s settled in the second as Grace Dillon hit the scoreboard with two majors, and Ruby Long chimed in with one of her own. With 17 disposals and 42 hitouts, Alexandra Hynes was an integral part of the defeated side, but a range of contributors from Old Trinity (who were without superstar Imogen Barnett), including Vanessa Murphy (17 disposals), Brigette Aughton (1 goal, 13 disposals) and Anneke Simmonds (6 tackles) put them on course for this important win. Sarah Cameron was lively in this contest, booting the Saints only goal for the match alongside three points, but the team’s scoreboard inaccuracy would be seen as their achilles heel this week given their superior inside 50 count (22 to OT’s 19).