Andy, Meggs and son were there on Saturday. Weather, low 20’s with a gentle south westerly breeze favouring the Northern/Clyde end. Circling the ground I felt spectators were mostly players’ families and friends but a few diehards were there too ?
The match began as an even affair with the Kangaroos kicking to the northern ‘scoring’ end and jagging the first goal. Demons had some good clean H1 passages showcasing the skills of Paxman, O’Dea, Hore and the impressive Lily Mithen. There was plenty of attack on the ball carrier by both teams causing turnovers and often untidy football but also fast moving passages with good clean foot skills, timed leads and strong marking by both sides.
In Q2 Hore goaled nicely and new Alice Springs draftee, Jordann Hickey, marked 25 metres out in front and kicked a neat goal. She reminds me of the delisted Mifsud and seemed to find the standard a step up from NT. Demons ruckman Pearce limped off during Q2 with a knee and the Physio worked hard to get her back on.
HT score Dees 2.3.15 to Roos 1.3.8.
From the outset of Q3 the Roos ruckwoman was Gawn-like with her taps. Led by the outstanding Ash Riddell the Roos dominated clearances and 6 unanswered goals ensued. The Dees struggled to gain any momentum and were pressured into ineffective possessions and missed a number of gettable opportunities including one shank right, a dolly from Newman 10 metres in front.
Q4 began brightly with the classy Kate H marking and converting a goal from 30 metres in front but then missed a second from a similar spot later in the Q. Co-Captain Scott who was noticeably vocal all day goaled but the Roos also kicked 2 Q4 goals and won the practice match comfortably 9.2. 56 to 4.10.34.
For the Dees, Mithen, Hore, O’Dea and Paxman stood out. CHB Downie was kept busy and exuded effort and code-hoppers FF Cunningham and goal-sneak Newman showed plenty of goalscoring potential. We loved the endeavour of Emonson, Jacobssen and particularly Zanker. Lampard has Sam Blease pace and style while Cordner was serviceable and gave a media interview afterwards. We didn’t notice the other new draft recruits who could have been in a small group of players doing training exercises at the breaks.
Women’s footy is not being embraced by many of the traditionalists but the skills and fitness levels are definitely improving. However there are valid industry concerns about the pace of expansion (now 10 teams) and the drain on the available talent pool.
Looking at the season ahead, the Dees will miss the inspirational on-field leadership of Captain Pearce, a backline general in Hickey (still recovering from her ACL) and the raw aggression and finishing skills of Rocky C (who just got rubbed out for Rounds 1 and 2 of 2019!). The Roos have recruited well with Riddell, Mo Hope and Emma King and will be very competitive in 2019 and they have ex Demon and Taswegian Humphreys who was a solid 4 quarter contributor for them.
The Demons under the leadership of senior coach Mick Stinear, assistants former Demon Pat McKenna (backs), Sam Radford (midfield) and Peter Mercoulia (forward), as well as development coaches Jane Lange, Jon Stinear and Justin Crough will no doubt be getting their charges well prepared for the season opener at Casey Fields against Fremantle on Sunday 3 February at 3:05 pm.
We’ll be there. Go Dees!
Mitch Hannan vs Jay Kennedy-Harris Corey Wagner vs Austin Bradtke James Jordon vs Kade Chandler Toby Bedford vs Aaron Nietschke Charlie Spargo vs Declan Keilty
