One round to go… How good is footy

Posted on - Latest News, Featured, Premier Women's, Women's News

Kristin Sims

With the finals spots on the ladder still not set in stone, a win against Marcellin would be vital for Caulfield Grammarians to take hold of third spot with one game left in the regular season. Marcellin who are down the bottom of the ladder have had some close games this season against most of the teams at the top of the ladder and it would take a top performance from Caulfield to get the job done.

Marcellin were strong in defence early on in the match, holding pace with Caulfield in all areas across the ground. In what was a clear winter day both teams struggled  to get clean possession of the ball and wrestled for possession for much of the first quarter. As the game went on Marcellin continued to heap the pressure onto Caulfield, cutting the ball off in the middle of the ground and limiting their damage on the scoreboard.

A great piece of play down the ground got the first goal of the game late in the second quarter for Caulfield, which took them into halftime with all the momentum. The third quarter was a physical affair where both teams were taking every opportunity to pounce on the loose ball and capitalise on the other’s mistakes. This quarter it would be Marcellin who overcame the pressure to get a goal on the board and tighten up the game to be within one point at the final break. No team was able to get ahead of the other in the final term and the arm wrestle continued throughout the quarter. Caulfield made their way inside fifty more, but only managed to get four points on the board. Marcellin would only manage one point and would fall short by just four points. 

It was the second of the must win games of the weekend and this time it was Melbourne Uni who needed to get themselves a win against Old Xaverians. Melbourne Uni came out with a bang, showing strength in attack and adding three goals to their tally in the first quarter to get themselves off to a great start. Continuing the impressive display in the second quarter Melbourne Uni kept a high level of defensive pressure on Old Xaverians keeping them away from the goals enough to keep them scoreless for the first half.

Melbourne Uni kicked away with another three goals for the quarter, taking a strong lead to the main break. After the half time break, the game began to settle and Old Xaverians were able to keep Melbourne Uni quiet throughout the quarter. They limited the impact that Melbourne Uni were having in attack and kept the goal tally from Melbourne Uni to just one goal for the quarter. A reward for all the hard work came for Old Xaverians when they scored their first goal of the game. After taking control of the game in the third quarter, it looked like momentum was swinging to Old Xaverains. If Melbourne Uni dominated the first quarter, then Old Xaverians made the final quarter theirs. They were first at the ball and showing a hunger that was lacking in the earlier parts of the game. The effort saw them limit Melbourne Uni to just one point for the whole quarter. The late attack would let Old Xaverians down though as they only scored one goal for the quarter despite having six shots on goal, which was not enough to get the win. 

The match between Kew and St Marys got off to a slow start, the normally quick firing Kew were held back by St Marys by their effort in defence to slow down the play and try to keep Kew away from goals. The strong defence worked for St Marys as the normally high scoring Kew were limited to just one goal in the first term. The second quarter followed the same flow with St Marys continuing their swarming defence and restricting the ball movement for Kew.

It was a slow style of play that was keeping St Marys in control of the pace of the game. Kew made some smart passages of play where they found the holes in the St Marys defence and were rewarded with goals. The third quarter was a struggle for both teams, with the play being scattered across the ground, neither team was able to control the play and get a chain of momentum going. In the final term Kew came out running and showed some of their best possession work for the game. Controlling the ball from the middle of the ground and running straight out of the centre, there was nothing that St Marys could do to stop them. Kew completely took control of the game in the last quarter, it resulted in ten scoring shots that translated to four goals. It saw Kew come away with a 46 point win after only leading by two goals at the last break. 

St Kevins started the game against West Brunswick off in spectacular style with a goal straight out of the middle. Both teams were running the ball hard and playing a fast paced style of football and before long West Brunswick had their own reply goal. The pace continued for the rest of the quarter, with both teams wasting no time to move on the ball when they had possession. There was plenty of space between the teams, but this didn’t stop turnovers with both teams struggling to find their own players when moving the ball on quickly.

West Brunswick were showing strong signs in their defence, providing strong tackles throughout the second term and really pressuring the St Kevins attack. The effort from West Brunswick didn’t wane, but St Kevins showed their best efforts to  find their way through the defence and score three goals. West Brunswick continued to impress in the third quarter, running hard and pushing the defence of St Kevins with their fast ball movement. The St Kevins defence did not waiver under all the pressure, picking off kicks and stopping the ball from making it into the West Brunswick forward line. The final term saw St Kevins come out and take over the game, their usual style of ball movement was back and they shut West Brunswick out of the game.

St Kevins controlled the game for the last term, keeping the ball out of the hands of West Brunswick. It was a tough quarter for West Brunswick who had kept pace with the ladder leaders until this point, but St Kevins had upped their pace and were showing their best football to West Brunswick. The final margin was a win to St Kevins by 37 points, it was a gallant game from West Brunswick but the result showed the strength the St Kevins has on offer.