EARLY CONTENDERS MAKE THEIR CASE
By KEL ROWE
Round 2 of the VU Polytechnic Senior Women’s competition saw more good weather, solid wins, and marked the annual WRFL ANZAC commemorations. First to feature for the weekend was Laverton hosting rivals Point Cook — on a clear Saturday morning down at Laverton Park Reserve.
Playing coach for Point Cook Kerry Saunders said that after copping the bye Round 1, there was a lot of nervous energy coming into the game, but they were pleased to have had the opportunity to check out the standard of the rest of the competition. Laverton, having succumbed to a dominant Wyndhamvale in Round 1, were keen to reverse the result against the Doggies.
From the first siren, Point Cook set the tone with a dominant first quarter, locking into their forward 50, and forcing Laverton to scramble in defence. The Doggies repeatedly found space and were rewarded with goals, with notable kicks from Brylee Thomas, Sammie Nguyen and Rebecca Dreever.
At the break, buoyed by a clear 20-point lead, Saunders praised her team for their solid pressure, and pushed them to continue bursting forward into space for more scoring
opportunities.
The second term saw a much stronger defensive effort from Laverton, with Kira Firth proving a safe pair of hands at full back — fending off several attempts at goal by Point Cook. The Magpies finally cracked into their forward 50 mid-way through the quarter, but were unable to convert, kicking just three behinds.
Pic: KEL ROWE
Fresh from the half-time break, Point Cook resumed their tough forward pressure, with Kerry Saunders stamping her authority on the game, bagging a goal after a clean mark in front of the square. Not shying away from the challenge, a gutsy Laverton returned fire, adding two more points to the scoreboard before the end of the 3rd term.
Despite their 19-point deficit heading into the final quarter, Magpies’ captain Abbey Brown pumped up her side at the break, acknowledging the efforts of the backline and the team as whole.
Play resumed in the final term, and it was clear from the outset that Point Cook intended to finish how they had started. Undeterred by the valiant defensive work of solid Magpies’ backline tag-team Brown and Firth, Point Cook continued to mount a strong offensive and kicked two more goals to seal a 32-point win.
Elsewhere, Point Cook Centrals bounced back from their Round 1 loss with a strong 69-point win over Wyndhamvale. Maddie Johnson again made an impact, scoring two goals and was named amongst the Shark’s best
Manor Lakes continued their dominant form, running over Yarraville Seddon, 7.11 (53) to 1.5. (11). The Storm’s scoring power spread evenly across the field, with five individual goal kickers.
In a tough hit-out that wasn’t reflected by the scoreboard, Hoppers Crossing won the contest over West Footscray. The Roosters took it to the new competition, but were unable to capitalize on their few entries into the scoring half, going down to the Warriors by 46-points. Emma Ludolff continued her goal kicking form, bagging two for her side.
To round out the weekend, Werribee Centrals hosted Spotswood on Sunday morning, for the ANZAC game of the round. The visitors ran away for a 54-point win, with a strong showing from both Thalia Wright and Spotswood captain Caitlin Brennan, who kicked four and three goals respectively.