Women’s Div 2
What a trip it was to Trumper Park this weekend. The girls were pumped and ready to go for the early 9am start. From the first bounce the girls were on and worked the ball forward. The pressure applied from the forwards and midfielders meant UTS were unable to clear the ball. Goals came from everywhere. Lili Braidner starred up front bagging 5 majors and was simply unstoppable. Scarlett Wynn managed 4 goals to her name as she found the footy easy all game. Louise Hoban snagged 3 along side Mia Gastelaars and Jess Bevan who both kicked 2.
The dragons played a really good team game. Especially in the last quarter when the coaches challenged the girls to play different positions for periods of time. This saw a few of our defenders, who are always hard at the footy, also on the goal kickers list. Sarah Hay, Ali Simpson, Rhi Burns, Michelle Chiofalo and Ash Walsh all came away with a goal each. This shows how versatile this Dragons side is.
Georgia Prestwidge dominated all over the ground. Ruthless tackles from start to finish and she provided great forward entries giving the forwards plenty of opportunity to hit the scoreboard. Every tackle she made only pumped up her team mates even more.
It was great seeing more goals kicked which shows such improvement after only a couple of weeks ago the girls kicked a lot more behinds. The teamwork and ongoing positive encouragement from everyone involved is only taking this team to new heights each week. There are some very promising signs of what can be achieved from the girls with efforts like this.
There are some challenging games ahead so let’s hope we keep the momentum and continue playing great team footy! Go dragons!
Div 1
After a tough loss to North Shore the boys travelled out to Cherrybrook to take on the reigning premiers Pennant Hills. With just 20 players we knew it would be a tough challenge. A very even start saw the boys full of confidence with Dave Williams replying to the Demons first goal to tie the scores, however after 10 minutes the Demons started to get on top. They had the momentum and kicked away for a nice buffer at quarter time.
The second quarter was much of the same and the Demons piled on the points, kicking very accurately to add to the damage.
By half we were down to 18 players with Lachy Ryan and Mitch Wickham both succumbing to injuries.
This made it very tough in the second half and despite a nice goal to end the 3rd quarter it was more of the same.
The last quarter was very difficult with the boys running out of steam with no rotations.
Unfortunately, it was another 100 point defeat this week, showing the gulf in class in the division. Hopefully we can bounce back with a win at home next week against Campbelltown.
Premier Division Reserves
The weather was fine but windy. The surface was soft as a result of recent rain. We had 4 late changes with key players out. We knew they had a strong side. The opposition dominated from the outset. They attacked from the favoured side & unfortunately to our disadvantage, we defended that side as well. The team’s effort was not disputed.
The opposition managed to score 4 goals & 4 behinds to a goal by Declan Donohue & a behind.
The second quarter was an improvement where we contained their score to 2 goals & 4 behinds. However, the team, although threatening a number of times, was not able to score.
When the opposition attacked even from the backline they streamed up the field in a zone allowing them to have more options. They appeared to kick to the easy option with favourable results.
At half time, captain coach Steve Willo Wilsen analysed the situation & stressed the need for more talking but more importantly to man on each player.
The team put Willos motivational words into practice. The players put pressure on the opposition & the demons were pacified somewhat. They scored 1 goal 4 behinds compared to our 1 goal 2 behinds. Maxwell Jeffrey scored the goal & he was so delighted you would have thought all his Christmas’s came at once. He checked that I recorded it correctly!!!
The opposition aware of our tactics did dominate the last quarter with 2 goals & 4 behinds to our goal scored by Mitchell Gray & a behind.
The game was hard fought by both sides. The players that helped out gave a good account of themselves.
Players who were nominated as best on ground were Donald Hoban, Michael Milner, Maxwell Jeffrey, Finnegan Ritchie, Daniel Sims & Ashley Flanagan.
Maximum points goes to Campbell Andrew’s mother who spent a day washing dirty shirts from the week before. The team acknowledges Harry Challen who supplies lollies (financed by his parents) for that edge.
Final Score
St George 3-4-22 def by Pennant Hills 9-15-69
Premier Division
With both teams desperately needing a win to remain in contention for a finals berth, travelling the distance to Penno’s home at Mike Kenny Oval in Cherrybrook was the first challenge. The Second challenge, after a lacklustre loss in the mud against Wests last week, was to prove ourselves up to learning from last week’s mistakes and gaining real credibility as a Premier Division team in 2020.
The threat of rain didn’t eventuate, and the first quarter played out as a pretty tight struggle between two evenly matched teams. Dave Lycakis kicked the only goal of the quarter, and our defenders did the rest. By the end of the quarter Dragons were up by 5 points.
The second quarter was mostly ours, with two early goals to Dom Soffe and Ben Jones. Three further unanswered goals from Kirian Ayres, Matt Saunders and Noah Casalini, gave us a 35 point lead heading as we neared halftime, only to see that cut back to 21 points, as Penno scored two quick goals near the siren.
St George went onto the third quarter with confidence and we had a great start to the quarter with a goal to Ethan Maher. Penno replied shortly after but still had to play catch up most of the quarter as St George refused to give up the momentum, we had in the first half. Noah Casalini grabbed two additional goals for the quarter and we had a lead of 28 points going into the last quarter.
Similar to the first quarter, the last quarter was a tight tussle. St George grabbed two goals early in the quarter, from Soffe and Casalini, and were able to maintain enough defensive pressure all around the ground to take the game in the end by 25 points.
Considering the quality of opposition, and some significant injury issues which reduced our bench to a rotating hospital room from very early in the game, this was a significant win for the boys. The Dragons back line is now looking pretty comfortable, and a huge display from Cal Nash, Natmac and Tim Coenen, gave us the breathing space to get the job done. Hodgo, Jonesy and Doly provided some class in the midfield, and our forwards did the rest.
Big day of footy at Olds Park next week, see’s us taking on Manly, which should be another good test for the team.
Final Scores
St George – Q1. 1.2.8 Q2. 6.4.40 Q3. 9.9.63 Q4. 11.10.76
Pennant Hills – Q1. 0.3.3 Q2. 2.7.19 Q3. 4.11.35 Q4. 6.15.51
Goalkickers – Casalini 4, Soffe 2, Jones 1, Lycakis 1, Ayres 1, Saunders 1, Maher 1
Best Players – Nash, Dol, McKenzie-Hicks, Hodgson, Coenen, Jones
Women’s Div 3
The day arrived and after an arduous drive out to Pennant Hills the always reliable Div 3 womens were ready to play. There were nerves and excitement for Kaylee's triumphant return, after 2 years on the side line with injuries. The girls were going to make this a match she would remember.
From the first bounce dragons were on top, slotting a few goals and giving an early lead. Towards the end of the first half the Dragons looked to have the game easy, but this changed after the main break, where Penno came out firing and created their own momentum to come within 1 goal of the Dragons. Stella defence by Morgan and crushing tackles by Mary swung the momentum back in the Dragons favour, with Lou Grady and Clifty making sure more goals came at crucial moments to put the game out of reach. With this handy lead the mids kept the Penno attack to the middle of the field so their inside 50 opportunities were heavily limited until the final siren, where we could sing loud and proud.
