Sharks and Roy’s provide fitting tribute in inaugural Holly & Bianca match

In a fantastic weekend of William Buck Premier Women’s football, Caulfield Grammarians continued their dream start to the season with a hard earnt victory away from home. The VAFA community joined in arms to celebrate the lives of Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones with the inaugural ‘Shining Bright for Holly & Bianca’ match between Beaumaris and Fitzroy.

In a moment much bigger than football, Fitzroy made the drive down to Banksia Reserve to face Beaumaris in the ‘Shining Bright for Holly & Bianca’ game.

The match itself resulted in a Fitzroy 6.3 (39) victory over Beaumaris 4.4 (28), with the Roys capitalising on a dominant first quarter and held on to notch their fourth win of the season.

Beaumaris Coach Sam Calogero was predictably unfazed by the loss and was grateful for the support provided by Fitzroy to participate in the special game. “A huge thank you to Fitzroy who were so amazing in their support throughout the week.”

Fitzroy Coach Nathan Jumeau was similarly pleased with his club’s participation in the special day and praised several of his players’ performances in the result. “Lauren Atkinson was great down back continuously winning the footy back for us and Chloe Haritopoulos was lively in the forward line.”

The inaugural Shining Bright for Holly & Bianca weekend was a resounding success. Beaumaris football club extended their heartfelt thanks to everyone who played a part. “Words cannot do justice to reflect how appreciative and supported the Bowles & Jones families have felt. Similarly, the Beaumaris Football Club extends its thanks to the Fitzroy Football Club and the wider VAFA community for their support.”

As a tribute, all players wore pink armbands as a symbolic reminder of Holly & Bianca; two strong, young, and free-spirited women. Their light lives on in every joyful moment shared. A brilliant weekend that will be remembered for some time.

Caulfield Grammarians travelled to Camberwell Sportsground to face reigning premiers Old Scotch in a battle of one v two on the ladder. It was the Fields who were able to keep their perfect start to the season alive with a gutsy four-point win 5.4 (34) to 4.6 (30). The triumph moves them to 7 wins without a loss and stamps them as the benchmark side in the competition.

Fields Coach Danielle Distefano was proud of her team’s efforts and felt that the key to winning was converting from their opportunities and consistently maintaining scoreboard pressure against an experienced side like the Cardinals.

Despite the result, Distefano has her eye on the coming weeks and months of the 2025 season and ensuring consistent development. “We want to keep improving every week to put ourselves in the best position going into the bye rounds,” she said.

Old Scotch Coach Dean Anderson was elated with the display between both sides and spoke highly of the opposition. “It was a great demonstration of Premier Womens football, played in great spirit between both clubs. They (Caulfield) are playing a wonderful brand of football and are difficult to manage in offence.”

St Kevin’s looked to build upon their strong start to the seasonwhen they hosted Old Geelong who have themselves enjoyed a fruitful beginning to their first season in Premier Womens. A dominant third quarter from St Kevin’s was the key to a 7.5 (47) defeat of the OG’s 5.4 (34)

Hannah Smith and Kate Stanton were the standouts with two goals apiece in Lucy Watkin’s 100^th game.

Saints Coach Tom Purcell commended his sides’ performance but focused on the long-term outlook of the victory and the scope for potential improvements. “A really hard-fought game and really pleased the girls got the win. We will continue to work on skills and ball movement in the coming weeks.”

Old Geelong Coach Jack Crameri felt as though it was a game of moments, and the more battled hardened Saints were up to the task. “They (St Kevin’s) just had the better of us in a few moments throughout the day particularly at the end of the third quarter and that was the real separator on the day.”

This win propels the SKOB Saints up into second place on the ladder after seven rounds: one game clear of close rivals Scotch Stars.

In the final game of the Round, Williamstown CYMS attempted to put a tough loss in Round 6 behind them with an away matchup against Kew.

It was a tight affair with neither side giving an inch all day. The CY’s held a slender 8-point buffer heading into the final break but were unable to maintain the lead. The Bears roared back to win 7.6 (48) to 6.9 (45) in an enthralling contest.

CY’s Coach Xavier Smith labelled the loss as “one that got away” and felt as though his side “had a good grasp of the game for majority of the four quarters.”

Smith noted however that there were a number of positives throughout the game which will be taken into the future. “We put an emphasis on pressure and contested work this week, so it was pleasing that our midfield in particular were able to win a lot of one-on-ones, or at the very least get stoppages.”

Kew Coach Emily Avery praised the efforts of some of her teams’ leaders in Claire Dyett and Amelia Dawborn with the former booting three goals.

Avery highlighted the Bears struggles behind the ball in the early stages which forced some moving of the magnets. “We needed more speed in the backline, so we made some positional changes to improve our ability to contest.”

The win is the third of Kew’s 2025 campaign and the Bears are a side to watch over the next few weeks as they bounce out of their bye in Round 6.

At the completion of Round 7 Caulfield Grammarians, St Kevin’s, Old Scotch and Beaumaris round out the top four.

Round 8 looks to be an entertaining weekend of football with West Brunswick returning off their bye to face Old Geelong, Williamstown CYMS host St Kevin’s, Beaumaris make the trek to Kew, Caulfield Grammarians lock horns with Fitzroy and Old Scotch have the week off after their narrow loss over the weekend.