Back – Anuradha Kodithuwakku, Keisha McMahon, Marnie Kerr, Natasha Maguire, Amanda Martinez, Katia Manton, Kellie Parsons, Frances Blazey
Front – Brittany Hamden, Kaitlin Dobing, Mia Jephcott, Ashlea Weston, Kate Tighe
Absent – Kaylee Charlton, Samantha Charlton, Molly Stocks, Emily Bank
The Yass Roos had plenty of reasons to celebrate over the weekend with the women’s team picking up their first win of their inaugural campaign. The win was made all the sweeter when the men completed a double for the home teams winning their game convincingly in their Grand Final rematch.
The ladies opened the day against the Molonglo Juggernauts where, after grinding out a tough first half, managed to string together some lovely passages of footy leading to a comfortable 8.9.57 – 5.6.31 victory, the first in their short existence.
Coach Kaitlin Dobing was very happy with her sides’ win, and hopes that they can carry their momentum into upcoming fixtures.
“It was a great surprise, we went in not expecting it. We only just rallied enough to fill the side first thing on Saturday morning. We nearly didn’t even get to play as we were one person short. We finally got the people just as we were warming up,” Kaitlin said.
“It was a very competitive game but our girls led for all four quarters, held on with light numbers and were able to take the win.
“It was exciting. We haven’t got our full-strength team yet. We haven’t even been able to have a full bench, we were lucky we were able to play at 16 aside instead of the full set of 18 and it was a very good day out for us.
“A lot of the girls dug deep. That’s what was for me as a coach most impressive, we dug deep and held on for that last half. We were getting fatigued and the sore bodies were coming through. It was impressive the girls running through the midfield for four quarters and we tried shuffling as much as we could but held on nice and strong when they had a bench, I think they had a bunch of about four or five people so we were quite lucky to hold on there.”
The Roos will need to raise another big effort this weekend when they play one of the competition heavyweights theGoogong Hogs. Dobing anticipates a difficult game.
“Googong is a lot more competitive. They are a very strong side. We didn’t expect the win we got this weekend so who knows, we can’t count ourselves out but it’s going to be much more physical. Knowing the calibre of some of the girls there and the fact we are missing a couple of key players due to other sporting commitments for next week. We’re going to have a very different side we’re running out with but you never know, it’s the first time Yass is versing most of these girls ever so it’s hard for us to predict how we go for the first time up. We’ll give everything we can and just hope for the best,” she said.
“We are connecting well considering we’re meeting girls for the first time when we’re running out. We gel so well considering how unfamiliar we are with each other so it’s quite impressive.
“I do predict it is going to be one of our bigger challenges. We expected a strong challenge from Bateman’s Bay if we could’ve got down there but we’ll get that from Googong as well. They’re going to be a fierce competitor.
“I think for us we look at how teams fare against Cooma being they’re in a similar boat to us and they beat Cooma by over 100 points. We’ve had a good few weeks to get our heads around it and get connected and play some footy and you never know what is going to come.
“We will get enough to field a side this week. We have a few players out but we have a few players coming back in andwe’ve got a few that we can call up this week if we are a little low in numbers, but we’ll get the minimum 16 we need, we’d love for a bench. We’ll do a call-out and see what we can do. We will get enough to go out and keep putting our best foot forward and as I said before, we were on the bare minimum and we got what we did on the weekend just passed. So if that’s what we can do with that, I’m pretty stoked and I’m keen to see what we can do when we get more legs on the park.”
The ladies had plenty of standouts in their first win.
“Molly Stocks. She was our best on the ground hands down. She was pivotal in running through our midfield. We usually play her in the back line, but we threw her in the mids and she was a gut runner who connected so well, threw a bit of a rotation to the forward line and again linked up perfectly in there,” earned special praise from their coach.
“We had Kaylee Charlton, Sam’s twin who’s been playing for us the last few weeks. She debuted and again, Kaylee was great and she rolled through forwards and mids as well creating some really good connections, some good footy.
“Brittney Holden did well in our ruck. She is not the tallest girl on the squad and we put her in there for an extra midfield role she rucked out really strong with another player through our forwards and she was on the ground more than most with them having a dominant ruck, but she gave 110% and had a cracking game herself so we had a lot of standouts. I struggled so much to pick out our best players but those girls led from the front and played an amazing game.
“I snagged a cheeky goal which is good. We had a great spread of goal-kickers. Myself, both of our captains, Mia and Ashas well got on the board and the Charltons and Molly as well.”
It easier going for the male Roos who got their revenge over the Eastlake Demons with no great difficulty, winning 17.14.116 – 7.9.51.
Coach Steve May was pleased with the result.
“We had a very good win with the final margin being 65 points against Eastlakes who have beaten us in the grand final last year. It was nice to get another crack at them and the boys played an awesome game,” Steve said.
“It was a real four-quarter effort. I think we led by four points at quarter time then 21 points at half time and then 33 at three quarter time and then had a huge last quarter and ended up 65 points up.
“We won every quarter. There were a couple of times during the game where Eastlake made a surge at us, so it took us a while to shake them off and it’s an interesting ground. We were playing at Murrumbateman, a pretty small ground so you can put on a few goals quickly at that ground. It took us a while for us to shake them off, but it was pretty convincing in the end.
“It’s a smaller than the Yass field. It’s probably the smallest ground you play on in the competition. Having said that though, the surface is a lot better than it was a couple of years ago. They’ve done a lot of work and they’ve got some nice new facilities as well there now, so they’ve got awesome change rooms, almost the best in the league really, at the moment. So they’ve done a really good job out there, but it’s just a small ground so that creates few challenges.
“Murrumbateman didn’t play on the day in the end. Unfortunately, Eastlake forfeited that match.
“It was awesome. They’ve set up a new scoreboard which looked sensational and they had a heap of Murrumbateman guys down there so they were running the canteen and a few of their players there watching as well.
“They put on a good show the Murrumbateman crew and looked after us. We’re appreciative of that, they did a great job and it’s a great set-up there. It’s looking great.”
May couldn’t pick just one area to praise.
“We were pretty good all over the park, to be honest. I think our midfield was good on top, so we got on top in the ruck, our midfield has had plenty of the ball and we were pretty efficient up forward this week, which was pleasing because that’s probably in an area that we’ve been a little bit down on. We’ve been struggling to capitalise and kick goals but we had a lot of different goal-kickers this week we shared it around. Shad Bolt had the most with three but then there were quite a few with two and one. That was probably the most pleasing thing, our forward line clicked this week and itput a good score on the board. I think we were the highest-scoring team in the competition for the round, so we were really happy with that,” he continued.
The Roos face a tough away trip this week going to Googong.
“They’re (Googong) looking pretty good so they’re currently three wins one loss. They made the finals last year in this competition currently sitting third on the ladder. So we see them as one of the heavyweights of this division and we are keen to take a big scalp against one of these big experienced sides from this division.
“We’ll be close to full strength. They’re going to be a tough challenge, but we’re looking forward to having a good crack at one of the better sides in the comp.
“The boys are full of confidence and we will give it our best for sure.
“We’ve identified a few areas we need to work on, plenty of work to do. We’re still a very young side as well. So on the weekend 18 at our 22 were 22 years or younger, so we are such a young side, but plenty that we’re working on to improve and match it with the best sides in the comp.
“We did have a few players unavailable on the weekend but moving into this next game we’re looking pretty good as far as injuries. We’ve got a couple of guys on the long-term injury list, but overall we’re pretty fit and healthy at the moment, so touchwood we keep that way, but we’re in pretty good shape coming into round five.
“On the weekend I think our midfielders all did well. Ryan Ulrick, Joven May and Leo Lahey all did well in the midfield. Maxy Shadbolt played on a wing snuck forward and kicked three goals, so a great effort from him as well. Our defence was strong led by Lachie Cossins and Taylor Doyle, and then up front, Sammy Williams kicked a couple of goals and Jacob Collins chipped in with a couple as well, so they were both pretty dynamic up in the forward line. It was one of those games where there were no passengers. Everyone chipped in and contributed some point. It was just an awesome team effort and I’m happy about it.”
The first bounce will commence at 02:00 pm on Saturday.
Tully Potts
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