WAFLW Round 2 Wrap

The Thunder made the trip up the freeway to take on the Lions in a Grand Final rematch on Saturday evening.

Both teams were coming off opening round victories, the Lions victorious away at South Fremantle and the Thunder sent an ominous message to the rest of the competition by comfortably accounting for East Fremantle. 

Kicking with the breeze in the opening term, the Lions dominated early field position and kicked the opening goal of the game through Tarnica Golisano. The Premiers quickly responded, Bailey Molloy marked her return to the League side this week with sides opening goal. The Lions answered through Kia Buckley, who soccered one from the goal square to nudge the home side back in front.

After some solid build up play down the wing, Aisha Wright burst from a pack just inside 50 and had time to steady on her left foot but pushed the kick wide. It turned into a costly 7-point play however as Subiaco turned over the resulting kick-in, gifting the ball straight to Ella Roberts who made no mistake on the set shot.

Subiaco were determined to make something of the opening quarter breeze and West Coast Eagle Courtney Guard used it to her advantage when she picked up a loose ball just inside 50 and thumped through the third for the Lions, wrestling back a 5-point lead heading into the first change.

Kate Bartlett coming off a 3-goal game in Round 1, was bereft of any real opportunity in the first quarter but certainly made her presence felt in the second. Firstly, pouncing on a loose ball just inside the arc and bouncing it through from 45 metres out. 

After some excellent forward pressure from Jade Briggs, Ella Roberts forced a kick to the top of the square, Bartlett turned facilitator on this occasion as she handballed smartly back to Roberts who somehow snapped it through under enormous pressure for her second.

A couple of minutes later midfielder Ebony Bilcich somehow extracted a ball on the half-forward line to Roberts who pumped the ball inside 50, Greta McKinley made a great contest, but it was Kate Bartlett once again who read it best, picking up the loose footy and confidently slamming it through for the third Thunder goal of the term.

From the next centre bounce the ball was put inside 50 and into the path of Aisha Wright who centred the ball to Jade Briggs. Briggs’ marking attempt was spoiled but Kate Bartlett was there to soccer through her third for the quarter, as the Thunder went into the break up 21 points.

The third quarter was a real arm wrestle, Subiaco kicked the first goal through Amy Hunt midway through the term and it looked like the Lions might be able to get back into the game. The Thunder kept their pressure up and finished the quarter strongly, some nifty forward craft from Aisha Wright setting up Greta McKinley for a set shot before Katie Jayne Grieve found Kate Bartlett inside 50 who went back and slotted her 4^th. Ella Roberts capped off the quarter with another set shot goal after getting pushed in the back, putting the game beyond reasonable doubt for the Lions at three-quarter time.

The Thunder’s scoring dried up in the last quarter, 2^nd gamer Aisha Wright kicked her first WAFLW goal and the sides only goal for the term with a classy finish right on the final siren as the Thunder ran out winners by 44-points.

The Thunder defense held strong since the opening quarter as they only conceded 1.2 after the first term. Cassie Davidson, Abby Barnden and Ebony Dowson repelled just about every Subiaco foray into attack, Krystal Carter was also solid across the half-back line.

The forward line was once again electric, with both Kate Bartlett and Ella Roberts linking up on a number of occasions and combining for 7 goals. Bailey Molloy could have also had a hatful but ended the day with 1.4.

The midfield trio of Ebony Bilcich, Chloe Wrigley and Katie-Jayne Grieve were industrious as always and continued to find ways to force the ball forward from stoppages. Courtney Rowley had another good game on the outside.

The girls now look ahead to Swan Districts this week in a top of the table clash on Saturday at David Grays Arena. It will be a battle of the League’s best offense and the League’s stingiest defence. In the opening two fixtures’ Swans have only conceded 18 points, while the Thunder have piled on 125 points, 48 more than any other team. 

LEAGUE FINAL

SUBIACO	3.0	3.1	4.2	4.2 (26)
PEEL THUNDER	2.1	6.4	9.7	10.10 (70)

PEEL GOALS: 4 K Bartlett, 3 E Roberts, 1 B Molloy, G McKinley, A Wright

PEEL BEST: K-J Grieve, C Davidson, C Wrigley, K Bartlett, E Roberts

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OTHER GRADES

The Rogers Cup girls had a resounding win in the early game. After trailing at quarter time and only registering a single behind, the girls burst into life in the second and dominated the rest of the game, not conceding another score.

Jorja Haines, Megan Bain and Olivia Waldeck were all once again outstanding in the middle, Haines and Bain were often the link from the middle and provided the team with a lot of drive and impetus going forward.

Coach Geoff Hayes debuted sixteen players last week, and three more came this week including late inclusion Leila Fotu who announced herself to the competition with 2.5 for the afternoon. Another debutant Dakota Sexton also kicked her first goal. Overall, the team had seven individual goal kickers, Alyssa Smogavec and Shareckah Jones also kicked their first goals for the year. Smogavec found herself in position to collect a few more, but only managed 1.5.

The girls ended up easily accounting for their opponents to the tune of 56-points.

ROGERS CUP FINAL

SUBIACO	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0 (6)
PEEL THUNDER	0.1	3.5	6.12	8.14 (62)

PEEL GOALS: 2 L Fotu, 1 A Smogavec, P Vos, R Hambrecht, S Jones, T Griffiths, D Sexton

PEEL BEST: O Waldeck, J Haines, A Rowley, M Bain, L Fotu

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In the Reserves, it was a return to form for the side after a disappointing loss to East Fremantle last weekend.

Ebonee Hardie back playing senior footy after a season off in 2020 returned with a bang kicking a goal with her first kick and ended up finishing with 3 for the day.

Kira Phillips who played a swingman role last weekend, spent the majority of her time up forward and while she didn’t quite hit the scoreboard as effectively as she would have liked, still kicked 2.4 and tried to set up and bring other players into the game.

Tess Blackburn controlled the midfield along with Skipper Van Peer who once again provided run and carry and kicked an opportunistic goal in the first term.

Savannah Ahearn intercepted a number of times and was great again in defence in the absence of Whitney Benson.

Player Coach Narelle McIntyre was forced from the ground and had to go to hospital for some stitches after getting a heavy knock to the head late in the second quarter.

Despite the confusion this caused on the bench it didn’t seem to faze the players on the field as they ended up comfortably winning by 54-points.

RESERVES FINAL

SUBIACO	1.1	1.1	1.3	1.4 (10)
PEEL THUNDER	3.4	4.7	6.8	9.10 (64)

PEEL GOALS: 3 E Hardie, 2 K Phillips, 1 C Colledge, K Hayes, J Fenton, S Van Peer

PEEL BEST: E Hardie, T Blackburn, S Van Peer, S Ahearn, K Brown