Cobras slither their way to the top as Monash give Bedes the Blues

Eden Hayes

With the rain drying up over the weekend, it was ideal weather for some rivalry and stellar football in round 2 of Premier B Women’s.

After a week of pure success last week, the Monash Blues took on St Bedes/Mentone Tigers who were coming off a bye in round 1. The salty sea air in Mentone set the scene for a game full of surprises. The Tigers had an impressive first quarter, kicking three goals against the Blues one. They had viewers under the impression that the game was theirs, but unfortunately, after two terms of powerful and relentless defending, the Blues dug deep mustering up the energy to score a whopping 22 points, creating a ten-point margin in the final scores.

With so much skill and determination picking just a single player was out of the question. With remarkable accuracy, it was Courtney Ward, Madeline Pearson and Victoria Kovacevic who obtained one goal each for the Tigers working with their best players such as Tayla Mcalroy.

The Blues pulled through with a last-minute triumph due to the prowess in goalkicking of Alicia Myers, Ainslee Elliott, Molly Mcfarlene and Sarah-Jade Rose each scoring one goal. Players such as Brooke Pontor displayed outstanding dependability earning herself best on field.

In round 3, both teams will be playing at their home grounds. The Tigers will encounter the venom of the Old Yarra Cobras and the Blues will experience the superhuman strength of the Hawthorn Hawks.

Hawthorn went into round 2 with their heads held high after using their fantastic senses to obtain their first win of the season. Sometimes all you need is the comfort of your own home, but for Brunswick who travelled to the Hawks nest, that was not the case.

From the first quarter, Brunswicks energy was promising, earning 25 points to Hawthorn’s 7. In the second term, Brunswick kept the fire in their bellies obtaining another 15 points, with Hawthorn doing their best to keep up but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

Accuracy was a downfall for both teams with 5 behinds for the Hawks and 7 behinds for Brunswick but with a 32-point difference between final results Brunswick secured their first win for the season. Although Hawthorn experienced a loss, Jamie Hewitt and Laura Castleden scored their first goals for the season and Charlotte Karnini-Parsons was judged best player.

The triumphant win for Brunswick could not have been achieved without team members such as leading goal-kicker Jessica Briggs who scored two goals and Larisa Dumitriu who demonstrated a best-player performance.

Will Hawthorn have better luck again at the grounds of mighty Monash Blues in round 3?  Can Brunswick create a victory streak with a home match, against Mazenod OC?

After a tough loss from both Mazenod OC and North Brunswick, it was on the home roots of Mazenod the two went head-to-head. It was an incredible game for Mazenod and unfortunately quite the opposite for North Brunswick.

Mazenod was irrepressible kicking a total of seven goals and 13 behinds, starting off slow but steady and flourishing in the third and fourth terms. This was a considerable effort in comparison to their total of eight points in last week’s match.

Feeling unfamiliar with their surroundings it was a tough game for North Brunswick who walked away feeling disheartened unfortunately being unable to make their mark. With stand-out players such as best on-field Mary Ntalianis, it is with hope that North Brunswick can come back in round four, after a bye and acquire a well-deserved win.

With many of the Mazenod team players displaying exceptional goal-kicking attributes, it was goal-kicking machine Lara Del Conte who scored three goals working alongside best player Claudia Macguire paving the pathway to success.

Mazenod is set to travel to the home of the buoyant Brunswick Football Club, taking on Brunswicks other representative team.

Two teams coming down from a win last week undertook a battle of creating a winning streak in round two upon the habitat of the Old Yarra Cobras. It was a game where accuracy was once again the biggest downfall for both teams with Richmond kicking four behinds and the Cobras kicking eight.

But it was the Cobras who brought their A-game this week producing a 34-point margin between the final scores. Leading goal scorer for the Cobras Iliana Zarfiriou, who was on fire, attaining three goals and with the assistance of best on-field Alyssa Bernado.

Richmond pushed themselves to the best of their abilities scoring a total of three goals but unfortunately were out of depth on this occasion. Julie Dortmans was best for Richmond, while Ashleigh Finn, Stefanie Talarico and Laura Quinton kicked one goal each. Richmond will come head-to-head with the ambitious Aquinas OC next week who are coming off a bye.

With the Cobras slithering their way to the top of the ladder they are left to muster up their best defensive mechanism at the home of the St Bedes/Mentone Tigers to maintain their dominance.

Making the Cobra community proud is Iliana Zafiriou who was in the lead last week, and still sitting very comfortably on top with seven goals, followed by teammate Tahlia Limburg with four goals. Brunswick’s Jessica Briggs is in third place with three goals, followed by Hawthorn’s Kayla May Smith in fourth place and the Blues’ Molly McFarlane in fifth also on three goals.