Redemption for St Kevin’s, Mugars right at home in William Buck Premier Women’s

Kristin Sims

Big Blow outs and Tight tussles made for an action-packed weekend in Round 2 of the William Buck Premier Women’s competition.

St Kevin’s opened the scoring early in the match and were able to keep pressure on Marcellin across the fifty metre arc to lock the ball in and stop the transition for Marcelling off points. There was a serious injury early on for Marcelling after a big pack marking contest, that left them a player down early on. St Kevin’s continued their strong defensive pressure throughout the quarter to keep Marcellin scoreless in the first quarter, while managing 9 scoring shots themselves.

The second quarter saw much of the same with the St Kevin’s midfield piling on the pressure from the first bounce. St Kevin’s added a few more goals in the first part of the quarter, but Marcellin put on some solid pressure themselves and got a breakthrough goal which brought a huge celebration from the team. The wall of defence for St Kevin’s remained and they went into half time with a 5 goal lead.

Despite the commanding lead, St Kevin’s continued the pressure in the second half of the game. The midfield laying strong tackles and putting immense pressure on the Marcellin ball holders, forcing mistakes. It allowed them to add another four goals to their score and come into the last quarter with a very comfortable lead. For Marcellin the pain didn’t end as they had another player come off in the hands of the trainer.

As the game went on Marcellin started to come together better as a team and were able to move the ball through the ground more. They were applying more on ball pressure and in the early part of the last quarter they scored their second goal for the game. A small highlight for the team in an otherwise challenging day. For St Kevin’s they can now go into the Easter break with a 2-0 start to the season.

Coming off a close loss last week to Melbourne Uni, Old Xaverians wasted no time getting started in the match and opened the scoring early. There was measured possession across the ground but Old Xavs were the team who made the most of their possession to convert goals. St Mary’s Salesian scored their first goal of the game and the year after a penalty that put them right in front of goals. It was a team effort that got them the goal and they continued to show improvement from the week before.

Old Xavs were covering more space on ground and always seemed to have someone at the fall of the ball, this saw them take command of the game. To St Mary’s credit though, they took the game on in the second to put together some strong plays and score two goals in the second quarter. St Mary’s held lots of the play in their forward fifty throughout the quarter, but the defence of the Old Xavs stood tall and limited to the attempts St Mary’s were able to have on goal.

The second half of this game was a dominant performance from Old Xavier’s. They controlled every aspect of the rest of the day and held St. Mary’s scoreless until the final siren. As the game went on Old Xavier’s were able to develop their link up game and work on using handball more, rather than relying on foot as much. In attack they were able to add 6 goals across the half and come out 69 point winners.

The game between Caulfield Grammarians and Kew saw teams who both had incredible wins in round one and sitting at one and two on the ladder. This game was the definition of an arm wrestle, with both teams struggling to take hold of the contest. Play around the ball was congested early on but Caulfield were the early leaders.

The defence of Kew was strong and for most of the second quarter they had strong pressure on Caulfield and were forcing turnovers for Caulfield, for Kew though they were unable to really do any damage on the scoreboard. For Caulfield they took the opportunities when they had them and snagged a goal right before the siren to lead narrowly.

A strong intercept mark early in the third saw Caulfield get the scoring off after the main break. The possession traded ends after this and unfortunately there was a horrific injury for Kew after a courageous smothering attempt. The arm wrestle continued with Kew kicking a goal to keep themselves within reach.

This quarter it was Kew who got the scoring off first to tighten the game right up, they were hungry to get the win and it wasn’t long before they kicked another and the lead was less than a goal. They upped their defensive pressure and held the ball in attack, providing some worry for Caulfield. It was less than a minute to go and Caulfield got a goal against the flow of the game to seal their victory in a heart stopper.

Melbourne Uni and West Brunswick were the last game for round 2 and this matchup was another close affair. Melbourne Uni had a great start to being promoted to the premier division and have once again come out and shown the competition why they aren’t just making up the numbers. They took this game on from the early minutes and held their own with West Brunswick to keep them goalless in the first half. West Brunswick on the other hand, did well to hold their defensive lines and stopped Melbourne Uni from scoring another goal after the second quarter. West Brunswick did all they could to try and claw back a win, but in the end their inaccuracies in front of goal cost them the win.