A big crowd of over 1500 streamed in to Gliderol Stadium (home of the Glenelg FC) to watch the AFL Women’s National Championships Division 1 Grand Final. The game was expected to be one of the best women’s football games ever between the all conquering and unbeaten Big V and the challengers for the last 4 championships, Team WA. Conditions were overcast but still and the ground was in pristine condition. Victoria were coming off an excellent win over Queensland while WA had to work hard in a bruising encounter with SA.
The first quarter was tough & tight with WA applying pressure & pushing numbers back. Victoria looked to find a way through the congestion and scored the first goal after Downie passed to Arnell who got the ball onto Cross who marked 20 metres out on a slight angle. WA gun and Debbie Lee medallist for fairest and best of division 1, Kirby Bentley, found time & space to move the ball forward to Melissa Caulfield who kicked WA’s 1st for the game. WA took a 1 point lead midway through the 1st quarter but it was to be the last time they led for the game. At this point Vic displayed a lack of composure, an uncharacteristic situation for them. Rikki Ryder was giving WA run & carry with Chelsea Randall strong down back repelling the Big V. Victoria took a 5 point lead at the first change.
Team WA continued to work hard in the 2nd quarter pushing forward with new All Australian Caulfield providing plenty of run. But Victoria’s half back line repeatedly repelled their forward moves and they were unable to score. Kara “Juddy” Donellan leading the Vic backline showed why she won the grand final’s best on ground votes, moving the ball forward with precision. The ability of VIctoria to switch playso successfully and run in lines showed amazing discipline to stick to the game plan and excellent team cohesion.
Victoria suffered a major injury blow late in the 2nd when Katie Loynes (2010 All Australian) was tackled by Bentley and had to be stretchered off. Katie was not able to return suffering a fractured ankle. Chelsea Randall worked hard to try & provide some run for her team but Victoria started to exert their authority on the contest kicking 2 goals 3 for the quarter while holding WA scoreless. Victoria went in to half time 20 points up and were full of running taking a lot of momentum and confidence into the break.
The third quarter was amazing to watch as Victoria kicked 5.1 and Team WA failed to score. Alisha Habib increased her work rate and constantly provided an option up forward through some hard leading. Habib took some strong grabs and converted to provide extra fire power. Team WA continued to work hard but gave away a costly 50 metre penalty when Cross was lining up for goal. She went back & slotted through a major after the siren & the lead had blown out to 51 points at the last change.
At ¾ time Peta Searle urged her Victorian team to continue with their efforts for one last quarter. Searle told her team that they were now playing the way they had been training 3 months for. A confident Victoria dominated the last quarter kicking 6.1 while Team WA finally managed their 3rd goal after Shannon McFerran kicked out on the full. Stacey Cross continued to work hard playing her best game for the Championships and was rewarded for her hard work finishing with 7.2. Victoria’s dominance was evident as they kicked 11.1 to 1.0 after half time.
Kara Donnellan was named the best player for the game and led the way but all 22 Victorians played their role and contributed to an astonishing display of football. Bentley, Caulfield, Randall, Lugg & White were named best for WA.
There is no doubt that it is time to explore what the next Championships might look like and how Victoria will be configured in this. Their domination together with a larger population to draw from makes for an imbalanced competition. An opportunhity exists to be creative and innovative and to trial a different Victorian model than what exists currently. There is also no doubt that the execution of the Vics is far ahead of the others states. They continue to display superior skills by foot being the most accurate team with the stats showing they have a far greater percentage of effective kicks. This Champs has seen them raise the bar again but wuth the other states striving to keep up we are in for some superb women's footy whatever the competition looks like next time.
VIC: 3.0 5.3 10.4 16.5 (101)
WA: 2.1 2.1 2.1 3.1 (19)
Goals VIC: Stacey Cross 7 Lauren Arnell 3 Alisha Habib 2 Amy Catterall 1 Meg Hutchins 1 Phoebe McWilliams 1
Goals WA: Melissa Caulfield 1 Nikki Harwood 1 Ashlee Atkins 1
Best VIC: Kara Donnellan Stacey Cross Daisy Pearce Lou Wotton Shannon McFerran
Best WA: Kirby Bentley Chelsea Randall Rheanne Lugg Jodie White Melissa
Caulfield
Last Modified on 13/06/2011 12:37