Rel’s Review – Round 11

With Sturt and us tied on 3 wins for the season this clash was important for both sides.  We were in the match for 3 quarters and again had a slow Q3 where we allowed Sturt to pile on 3 goals.

We had our opportunities and at the end of the game we were ahead on the stat sheet in the critical inside 50’s. Sturt were stronger around the contest and held shape and balance better than us which led to them controlling the uncontested space.

We were a little unlucky with some critical moments not going our way but as they say you make your own luck and we certainly need to work on our ability to compete for longer.

Our younger players continue to show promise including Lucy Moore who was thrown in to the mid where she held her own and looks comfortable at the level.  Popi Gikas showed re composure around contest and took another step playing the challenging position of the wing. Sophie Zuill, Poppy Waterford and Christina Leuzzi displayed a maturity with respect to contest, ball in hand and running patterns.  Klaudia O’Neill, Grace Martin, Bianca Portaro and Imogen Trengove all in the SA Under 18 squad played solid games which is exciting with our future strategy to focus on youth.

There is a level of frustration with how our season has played out, we continue to have one to two quarters that are not at the level to compete in this competition resulting in losses. As a team we certainly feel that we can compete with all teams and have 3 rounds left of our season to continue to challenge teams who will be vying for the top 4 positions.

Narelle Smith – SANFLW Senior Coach