Any Given Saturday – anything can happen.
That line came from one of my favourite sporting movies which is Oliver Stone’s film “Any Given Sunday” (1999). Admittedly it’s a movie of the most boring football code of the world: American Football – Gridiron but regardless it’s a classic. It’s one of the reasons I love football is due to it’s unpredictability. In the crack of dawn game, UNSW-Easts Stingrays hosted Sydney University Bombers out at the picturesque Village Green. The Stingrays were competitive but were badly outgunned as the Bombers used their development week to rotate their players around and trial new players and the results were evident on Saturday. Those who impressed in no particular order for (Sydney University) Meredith Gray, Krysten Winkley, Emma Yuen, Danielle McCarthy and (Stingrays) Jo Willesse, Cherie Harmer and Mel Breuker. Sydney Uni scored out of the blocks with 4 goals and despite the inclement weather and dodgy center boggy diamond were able to increase their score in every quarter. The Stingrays best quarter was the 3rd
quarter restricting Sydney Uni to 9 points. Final score 12.11.83 to 1.3.9.
There were 3 games held at Mahoney. The NSW State Team had the canteen rights for the day and decided to raise some money for the team. Thanks for the sausages!
In the 10am game, Newtown hosted Macquarie University. This was the debut umpiring game of Joanne Farrell assisted by SWAFL Umpire Development Coach – John Freeland. Congratulations Jo. Hope your fellow team members didn’t give you too much lip! A couple of the Breakaways played with Mac Uni with much
enthusiasm.
In the 12noon game, Wests hosted St George. St George tried hard but were outgunned in the game. The Wests centers led by NSW State Captain Tricia Muller took control of the game early on to establish an early lead and from there never headed. It was an intriguing battle between the two 2008 SWAFL Best and Fairest players of midfielders Tricia Muller and Erin Burns. Wests were restricted by a tight Dragons in the first quarter only letting in 2 goals before being blown away with a 5 goal 2nd quarter. In the 3rd
quarter greater effort by the Dragons restricted the Wolves to one goal before another 4 goal effort in the final quarter made the final scoreline 12.14.86 to 2.7.19. Those who impressed in no particular order were (Wolves) Talei Owen, Cassi Bell, Lauren Hazell, Georgia Woodyard and (Dragons) Christine Coles, Clare Crewdson, Erin Burns, Louise Glasgow and Ashlee McClure. Highlight of the game included one of the smallest players in SWAFL Dragon’s Vanessa (Nell) Smith tackling the tallest player in the game Wolves’ Georgia Woodyard for a successful holding the ball decision. A shoutout to the Hazell family for driving Lauren from Dubbo each Saturday morning (i shudder to think of the wake-up time) to further their daughter's dreams. Now that's dedication!
In the 2pm game, it was the big clash between 2
nd placed
Balmain Dockers and 4th placed Bondi Shamrocks although it was only % that separated 2nd to 5th. For the winner, a chance to march lock-step with Sydney University and Wests on 16 points in the ladder. For the loser, drifting to a definite stand-alone 5th place.
In the first quarter the Dockers were sublime on the other hand the Shamrocks were very ordinary. The Dockers players managed to find space at every opportunity and made numerous uncontested leads, whilst the Shamrock’s indiscipline was best illustrated with 4 x 50m penalties in a quarter. No surprise that the quarter score read the Dockers 3.1.19 to the Shamrocks no score. A greater effort in the 2nd
quarter with the heavy rain had the Shamrocks with many possessions but failing to convert these opportunities into goals. A Shamrocks deliberate out of bounds and then the subsequent goal after the siren from the boundary for the Dockers meant the half time score was 4.2.26 to 0.3.3. The 3rd quarter saw the Shamrocks get their act together to score 2 unanswered goals to get the tensions rising on both sides. In the final quarter, both sides had their chances but the Dockers were not to be denied and ran out 16 point winners squaring the series between the two clubs. Best on Ground in no particular order were (Dockers) Alison Parkin, Belinda Pride, Olivia Hall and Maggie Jenkins (Shamrocks) Una McKay, Lara Creber, Kate Lancaster and Kate Woodlands. Congratulations to Olivia Hall (Dockers) for keeping last year’s golden boot Marie Keating goal-less for an entire game. The final score was Dockers 5.4.34 to Shamrocks 2.6.18
The ladder after round 7 going into the break has Newtown in front on 20 points and then Balmain, Wests, Sydney Uni on 16 pts, Shamrocks on 12 points, St George on 4 points and Easts yet to open the season account. Golden Boot news has Marie Keating (Shamrocks) in the lead with 22 goals. Second is Belinda Pride (Dockers) 14 goals and in third is Rebecca “Bec” Burridge (Breakaways) in third with 11 goals
We wish all those in the NSW State Team a great and hopefully successful time in Perth to win division 2 and get back promoted to Division 1.
NSW State Team photo courtesy of Marie Keating
Last Modified on 01/06/2009 14:06