Match Report

Rell’s Review – Round 8

2 hours ago – June 22, 2026

Narelle Smith reviews Round 8 v West Adelaide

After a well earned bye round we came in as hot favourites for Round 8 against West who have had a challenging season. We were determined not to underestimate them as their line-up is full of great players. We anticipated them to bring great pressure which is how the game played out.

It was a slog with heavy conditions and West bought a high level of contest. We dominated the team stats sheet in all the right areas and eventually had a comfortable win by 26 points.

The most pleasing thing about the win was that we had 4 U18 State players unavailable due to National Championships but the team rolled on with Poppy Waterford making her much anticipated return to SANFLW. Our Co-Captain was impactful all around the ground including Poppy kicking a heart-warming goal from a free kick from her hallmark tackle pressure.

We were able to have another debutant in Lucy Farnsworth who kicked goal of the round with a check side from the north-eastern pocket. Our team is building nicely towards the back end of the season and now faces a red-hot Norwood next week in another home game. We look forward to this challenge and would love to see you all at a W game.

Narelle Smith – SANFLW Senior Coach