Division Three
This week the St. Kilda Sharks women’s Football club put their name in the history books. The sharks are one of only 2 Clubs to field 3 teams. What a fantastic achievement for this club and the league.
The first game to kick off was our 3rds playing against Mordialloc, for those reading Mordi and the Sharks combined last year to field a team. There was some familiar faces in both sides this week which in some passages of play was actually funny to watch, Mordi girl kicking to a shark then the shark handballed to the Mordi girl, then got tackled by that same shark who handballed the ball.
It was great to see a Champion of the club in Jenny ‘Jeno” Male coaching alongside Cassandra “Caspa” Brooks..
The game will be the last for a true legend of the game ‘Caspa’. She has always played with her body on the line and her head over the ball attitude saw her once again add another concussion to the books.
The sharks showed some great passages of play, with run from newly recruited Kendall and Tickels up front. It was great to see Blousey continue her amazing games record, still as solid across the half back as usual. It’s great to see all the training sessions are paying off for the newbies, Kingy and Newman both getting their hands on the ball.
With Ange “ Hawkins” Mc Tagggart kicking a few goals, Brooke “mustard” Chooky playing well in the ruck and captain for the week Ralphy showing us she’s not just a handy lady with the tools but also with the football.
The sharks fought hard until the very last siren going down by less than a goal with only 17 players for the majority of the game. I was very impressed with the sharks endeavour and they will only get better and better as the season goes on. As a long-time member of this club I was extremely proud to be a part of this day and this moment in history.
Premier Division
After the game last week against the Spurs, the Seniors were ready for a real challenge. The Sharks started off with a bang 4 goals to 1 first quarter, this was from some great running and use of the footy. Lauren “lozza” Bazely giving us first use of the footy while Amy “frank the tank” Caterall made some room for Jenna “gun” Bruton for clean possession into the forward allowed Mo “the fresh prince of vanity” Hope every chance to kick us away in the first. It was from then we decided to make the game harder for ourselves, we decided to stop running for each other, running back into traffic, putting ourselves under pressure with our disposal, not wanting the pill, playing behind our player despite the efforts from D “Daniqua” Pedersen and Jasmine “Jazzy” Garner Dimo managed to kick 4 to our 1. The scores were pretty much even at half time, the 3rd saw the sharks dig a little deeper and we decided we actually wanted to play football, we decided we wanted to run for our team mate, we switched the ball, we got more aggressive with our attack on the footy. Phoebe “P-mac” Williams continued her great form with crashing packs and giving us a target up on the half forward, Dingo running through packs and Tilly “pantene” giving us some run from the wing. The pressure from Belinda “curls” Hately with some cameo from Steph “webbo” webb kept them to 1.3 but our lack of quick ball movement and clean disposals allowed Dimo to get numbers back on Mo making it hard for the Fresh prince to get any room. The last was up to who wanted the ball more, Us or Them? Peppa “rough nut” Randall showed courage in last half with some hard ball gets and as always Mia “ tough as nails” cliffo putting her body on the line displayed some remarkable guts in the packs. Although some great marks by G “sticky hands” Harris and Mouseys ground work kept the ball in our forward for most of the last half we were unable to convert going down 9.3 57 to 10.11 71. The seniors have some young players with some great potential, it’s a matter of building the team and the love for each other to have the team’s best interests at heart.
Division One
Who’s ready for a road trip? The reserves made their way to North Geelong who were the Div 2 premiers last year and have been elevated to the big kids. After the heavy loss from last week the reserves had something to prove not only to themselves but the rest of the competition. The sharks welcomed Emily “smithy” Smith and Towner to the side giving them some size and experience. Big Rach as always gun ho from the very first bounce gave Fanta, Elle and Nugget first hands on the ball. With the wind behind them the sharks got off to a flyer kicking 3.2 to zip, and Zip was all the sharks score saw after that. The 2nd Nrth Geelong put pressure on the ball carrier and held their wall across the sharks defensive 50 not allowing the sharks to clear the ball. Regardless of the pressure the back line was under Keryn “kez prez” Ralph was literally the back of the game. Terri “swings” Kiefer and Tania “Tanz” Winchester held their ground. She-hee and Tanssles at times found it challenging on their opponents who were 6’7 (who wouldn’t find playing on a giant hard) but brought the ball to ground and was able to clear the ball. After the onslaught the Sharks were surprised to find the scores were even. This called for a premiership quarter from the sharks to run away with the win, this unfortunately was not the case, it was as if the sharks were playing a different team than the 1st, the sharks got shell shocked with the pressure, by this stage the wind had died down and it seemed difficult for the sharks to get a centre clearance. Continuous running from Ash “the rabbit” and Elle “guacamole” allowed them to get their hands on the ball. Alana “fatty” Tully showed that it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, you can never underestimate your own abilities, Tully was here there and everywhere so Nrth Geelong K.O. her (by accident) to stop Tully from causing any more damage. The last quarter was much the same. The reserves have a lot of talent but I believe they just need to hold their structure, not to panic when they have the ball and to get more physical in the contest.
Congratulations to all the sharks past and present for making this historical even happen!
The Sharks will enjoy their week off, rest and recovery with the long season ahead these are the games that might haunt us come finals time.