The Yass Redbacks have had one of their best weekends of the 2023 season to date, collecting two wins in their Community League Men’s competitions, while the State League Women convincingly defeated their opposition.

 

The Community League Division 5 Redbacks defeated ADFA 6-1 at Addison Oval in Canberra.

Brett Darmody scored a hat-trick, while Cooper Fornley, Calvin Morgan and Sebastian Young all scored one goal each for the CLM5 Redbacks. 

Sebastian Young was voted Player’s Player for his performance to help the Redbacks get the three points. 

In the Community League Men’s Division 2 (CLM2) competition, the Redbacks beat Canberra City FC 4-2 at Hackett in Canberra. 

Keegan Doyle, Jared Porter, James Dugdell and Luan Tu all registered their names on the scoresheet with a goal each. 

Cooper Fornely was awarded Player’s Player for his effort as the goalkeeper, backing up from the first game. 

 

Redbacks Men’s Coach Ryan Betts said the two sides still managed to make do despite a lack of numbers again. 

 

“We did struggle with numbers again, we had 18 players across the two games. Originally the Community League 2 game was supposed to be in Yass, but I ended up reaching an agreement with Canberra City to swap our home and away games. We ended up playing in Canberra, about a 15-minute drive from the first game at ADFA,” Betts said. 

“We had about five or six blokes backing up for the second game. We started the second game with just seven players on the field, so we were four short players for the first five minutes until the other players arrived from ADFA.

“Cooper was our goalkeeper in the second game, he had a pretty crazy game. He saved a penalty and saved quite a few goals.”

 

This weekend, the Redbacks Men’s side will have a bye due to the long weekend, with the team still expecting to train despite the week off. 

 

In the State League Women’s Division 4 competition, the Redbacks thrashed the ADFA Vikings 8-1 at Walker Park.

Lucy Dwyer received Player’s Player for her incredible performance while also scoring a goal. 

Melanie Bullock scored two goals for the Redbacks against ADFA, while Dwyer, Kaely Jol, Cara Armstrong, Cheyanne Gianchou, Renee O’Loughlan, and Lila Martello all scored one each.

Redbacks SLW4 Coach Katrina Kerr said the women’s performance on the weekend was pleasing. 

“Lucy hadn’t scored a goal in a very long time, so she was very excited. She had a blinder on Sunday,” Kerr said. 

“The first 30 minutes was really quite competitive. We scored first and they equalised and then we grabbed another two just before half-time. We were quite dominant in the second half from then on. 

 

“We managed to knock a few more goals in and certainly had a lot easier position in the second half. I was quite happy with the performance.”

 

This Sunday, the SLW4 women’s side will play Bel North at Kaleen at 2pm. 

 

“We have our catch-up game this weekend against Bel North. We were supposed to have a bye, but we will play the game that was previously washed out a few weeks ago. 

“That will be a tough game, they are middle of the table so it will be an interesting game against them I feel.”

 

Tim Warren