Seaford has won back-to-back games and closed to within two games of fourth placed Eastern Devils after defeating Geelong last Sunday at Piranha Park. The Tigerettes kept Geelong goalless for the game to run out 37-point winners, 6.6 (48) to 0.5 (5) in the final game of a split Round 7 in VFL Women’s, as Callum O’Connor reports.
Rapidly gaining a reputation for their uncompromising attacks at stoppages, Seaford’s in-and-under players Danielle Lawrence, Tiara Annear and Lana Bonnet relished the wet conditions. Geelong were able to match the Tigerettes’ intensity as Riley Shapter and Lily Mithen pushed the Magpies forward.
Despite dominating the early play in their forward 50, Geelong were unable to capitalise. Seaford made them pay going coast-to-coast for Stacey Conway to neatly soccer through the first and only major of the term.
The rain wouldn’t give the teams a break in the second quarter but Seaford was able to maintain just enough polish to shine through the conditions. Tigerette full-forward Emma Hall converted from a holding the ball free to push the half time margin out to 13 points – a sizable advantage in the wet conditions.
The matchup of the game was the battle in the ruck between Melbourne teammates Seaford’s Kate Gillespie-Jones and Geelong’s Maddie Boyd. Just two weeks ago the pair were teammates on the MCG but pitted against each other at Piranha Park the two talls were terrific in the air and at ground level.
Geelong needed quick goals in the second half but could only scrounge behinds from their early efforts – their first scores of the game. Their luck then worsened with the now torrential downpour: five minutes, Conway received a 25 metre penalty for a mark infringement to pop through her second.
Conway soon had her second and Sarah Hosking her first, and Seaford had all but ended Geelong’s hopes with a 27-point three quarter time lead.
Hall and Natalie Plane put the icing on the cake halfway through the final term, helping Seaford record back-to-back victories with a 37-point win.
Seaford coach Brett Alexander said his side had played the conditions well and could now look to push up the ladder.
“We didn’t over-possess, we looked to just go a one-handball, one-kick,” says Alexander.
“We’re now winning matches we’re expected to, and you’ve got to do that.”
Seaford this weekend heads to Trevor Barker Beach Oval to face Knox in a double header with the VFL clash between Sandringham and Essendon.
Round 7 results
Melbourne Uni 9.12 (66) d VU Western Spurs 4.6 (30)
St Kilda 27.15 (177) d Knox 0.1 (1)
Eastern Devils 20.21 (141) d Cranbourne 0.3 (3)
Darebin 8.10 (58) d Diamond Creek 6.5 (41)
Seaford 6.6 (42) d Geelong 0.5 (5)
Round 8 fixture
Saturday June 10
Darebin (1) v Melbourne Uni (2)* (Casey Fields)
VU Western Spurs (6) v Diamond Creek (5)
Sunday June 11
Knox v Seaford*(Trevor Barker Beach Oval)
Cranbourne (8) v St Kilda (3)
Eastern Devils (4) v Geelong (9)
CLICK HERE for full fixture details
*VFL/VFL Women’s double-header
Last Modified on 07/06/2016 23:13