INNERS ARE GRINNERS
Women's footy arrived at AAMI Stadium last Sunday when our local women's team played the first ever regional women's game at the ground.
As the players entered the arena the clouds opened up and the team was drenched giving the players a totally new experience of playing wet weather football.
Coaches Dean Martin and Kieren Ralph had the team ready for the game with a early morning training session to loosen up after the women had played Saturday and then spent 8 hours on the bus to the Bay....
Captain Erica Schmidt won the toss as the rain clearly briefly and the game was started by local umpire Brett Morris who looked at home in the pink uniform.
BH were immediately in control of the game as Sarah Newsome in the ruck dominated. At ground level Schmidt and Amy Richards were winning plenty of the ball and BH attacked relentlessly.
The greasy ball was creating havoc as the team often tried to bounce or handball when the quick kick forward was the order of the day. A series of points resulted with several players having the chance to kick that magical first goal.
When EP did attack the BH girls were impassable across half back where Teagan Coombes, Lyndsay Kubiak and Katie Patison were too polished for the EP forwards.
On the wings Casey Fraser was winning plenty of the ball and Shelby Raven handled the wet ball better than most.
With seven interchange players the Coaches had the toughest job for the da trying to rotate all he players in two twenty minutes halves.
At half time despite having most of the play BH led by only six points...0-6 to nil.
Some quick education on wet weather football at half time brought immediate results as Aisha Walker did well to keep the ball moving which created a goal for Tarnee Tester.
The first goal gave the team great confidence and they pressed hard for Tester to again stamp her class on the game with a fine running goal. As the crowd swelled to 3,000 to 5,000 the girls turned on a clinic with some excellent passages of play as the skies cleared.
Defender Amee Hogarth went into attack with immediate success snapping a great goal which was followed up soon after by Stephanie Balman who took two strong marks and converted the second chance with a nice shot from a tight angle.
As the final siren blew the locals had won 4-11(35) to nil.
EP were much better than that and made our girls earn every kick. Considering the advantage we have with our competition already established the EP team will be harde to beat next time.
Best players were many but the effort of Captain Erica Schmidt in the midfield was superb, doing all the tough in and under work. In attack Tester was the rolls Royce with brilliant skills to win the Port Adelaide medal.Third went to Amy Richards who loves the physical contest and coped plenty of high tackles as she bored into packs. Newsome in the ruck dominated the aerial contests whilst Fraser , Paige Cuy and Raven were juniors who handled the big occasion well.
All the players played their role and the Coaches and support staff were delighted with the effort and the result.
The girls did BH proud...and what happened Sunday night? ...well it's a footy trip and these girls learn quick ...what happens on the trip stays on the trip...go girls
Last Modified on 08/08/2012 23:07