It was amazingly, a beautiful morning for footy, still a bit chilly but the sun was out! The Rovers Women arrived at their ‘Castlefield fortress’ ready to take on the Women from La Trobe University.
As they lined up, it was clear that Wardy had switched the team around to experiment with players in different positions for this match.
Q1
Right from the centre throw up, the Rovers took control with EmJ clearing the ball deep in to our forward line. There it lived for some time as we peppered the goals, with numerous points being the only result. That is until Kristy took a good grab, centered the ball where Millie marked with rear authority and kicked truly for the first goal of the game.
Apart from the wayward kicking, the good pressure that La Trobe were applying meant we were not having everything our own way. In saying so however, there was some great signs by the Rovers as they were continuing on with their very impressive game style and attitude. Our ‘live-wires’ Jess and Kera were tackling, going in hard and using their speed and skill really well. Alana took a couple of commanding marks, Casey was really running hard and picking up possessions at will while EmJ was dominating and kicked a great goal. After some great teamwork involving a clever handball by Courtney, Millie marked again and kicked her second for the quarter.
Q2
La Trobe started the quarter well with some forward entries however our backline were really tight and well organised with Harmoni running and linking up with Mandy, Maegan and Shae. Maxine was everywhere and one of her driving kicks was marked strongly overhead by Lauren who played on and kicked a clever goal. Soon Millie was to follow as she stole the ball off the back of the pack and banging one through on the run.
Tayla, Steph and Lauren were applying really strong forward pressure and playing great games. One of the highlights of the quarter was when Bella marked on the backline then sent a perfect switch kick across the ground straight to Mandy.
Q3
I must admit that it was good to see a very gallant La Trobe side get their first score of the game, a nice goal achieved through some excellent teamwork.
…now back to the Rovers! Tash was doing a great job around the ground and Hayley was as always hard at it when needed. There was a lot to like about the way the Rovers Women were playing and Steph was able to finish the hard work off with a display of great skill and strength by getting 3 goals for the quarter.
Q4
The Rovers women were relentless in the last quarter, everyone played their part, the backline were not letting anything past and setting up the forward plays while the mids did a power of work throughout the match.
The forwards shared it around with goals in the last to Lauren, Tayla, Steph and a couple more to Millie (giving her 5 for the game!)
Hampton Rovers 3.8-26 5.11-41 8.15-63 13.18-96
La Trobe University 0.0 0.0 1.0-6 1.0-6
Goal Kickers: M. Smith 5, S. Peacock 4, L. Morecroft 2, E. Johnson, T. Jones
Best Players: M. Smith, E. Johnson, L. Morecroft, C. Politarhis, M. Miller, T. Jones
