Moody’s Match Report – Round 10

Over the ANZAC weekend our SANFLW girls travelled to Norwood for the second time in a month to face off against the Redlegs. After a dismal performance last time we ventured to Coopers Stadium our girls were determined to make sure the results were different this time around.

We had a few forced changes this week as we lost defender Tiarna Harfield and young gun Ruby Ballard due to Health and Safety protocols, but that meant we got to welcome back a few familiar faces with Cameron Kennedy returning for her first game from an ACL injury. Also returning to the side were Lucy Boyd returning from a few weeks with the State U18 team and midfielder Zoe Venning. Olivia Smith also returned, and Georgie Pater also got another opportunity in the League team after a few good weeks on the training track.

The first quarter started like most weeks, being outnumbered in Inside 50’s 12 to 3 to Norwood’s advantage. However, our backline again held up strong with Madi Russell being the anchor in defence and Beatrice Devlyn working the football out of defence. Norwood hit the scoreboard first with the first 2 goals of the game, before Lucy Boyd kicked our first goal of the quarter from a holding freekick in a tight angle and slotted it through. Norwood were able to take an 8-point lead into the quarter time break.

The girls came out in the second quarter with a much-improved effort, stemming Norwood’s flow from the first quarter and taking back the advantage with the ball spending most of the time in West Adelaide’s half. Our girls unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on our inside 50’s with both teams unable to score a major in the 2^nd quarter, with only 3 behinds scored Norwood took a 9-point lead into the major break. Jess Macolino up against her old side found plenty of the ball with 7 disposals in the 2^nd quarter. Maddy Zacher was impressive in the back half as she took 4 intercept marks and Lucy Boyd brought the forward line pressure with 6 tackles at the half.

The tables turned again in the 3^rd and Norwood came out swinging with all the ball in the 3^rd quarter played in Norwood’s half, again putting our backline under immense pressure. Luck happened to be on our side as some very inaccurate kicking from Norwood saw them score 0 goals 8 behinds for the quarter, and despite having all the play it meant that with a big last quarter, our girls were still right in the game trailing by 17 points. Beatrice Devlyn found plenty of the ball with 13-disposals in the 3^rd quarter. Jess Macolino was again impressive with 6 contested possessions.

The game again looked like it was going to shift, with Nicole Hooper snagging the first goal of the quarter from a nice set shot and the lead was back to 11 points with plenty of time left on the clock. Norwood kicked the last 2 goals of the game and despite plenty of fight and a much-improved effort from our girls, we went down by 22 points. Beatrice Devlyn led all players with a game high 32 disposals. Jess Macolino finished with 21 disposals and 11 tackles while defenders Maddy Zacher and Madi Russell had 11 and combined for 11 marks in defence.

Our girls now face another huge challenge against league leaders North Adelaide at home this weekend.

Best players: Beatrice Devlyn, Maddy Zacher, Tamika May, Madison Russell, Georgie Pater

Goal scorers: Lucy Boyd, Nicole Hooper