SANFLW Match Wrap | Round 13

We had a short turnaround this week, and headed out to Norwood Oval for Round 13 of our League season.

Our first quarter was an arm-wrestle, with a great inside 50 entry from Ash Dyer-Pietsch giving Kaitey Whittaker the opportunity to soccer through a quick goal. We headed into quarter time with scores level, but didn’t feel we had adjusted well around stoppage to be as defensively accountable as we would have liked.

The second quarter brought more highlights as Cassie McWilliam gave off a great goal assist to Whittaker, followed shortly after by Ash Dyer-Pietsch’s first ever SANFLW League goal as Ash moved up the ground to play on the wing this week.

Our third quarter was arguably our best period of football in 2025. Whittaker soccered through another goal and has since received 10 missed calls from Wrexham AFC’s recruiting team. Cassie McWilliam showed us her left foot acumen with a beautiful snap from the boundary. Not long after this, Aleesha Robran collected the ball neatly across half forward and kicked her first ever League goal.

Pleasingly, our tackle pressure was the best it had been all season and we forced Norwood’s turnovers. Leading this was second-gamer Kori Webb, who had 6 tackles and delivered the ball cleanly around the ground at 80% efficiency. Our backline set up proactively and had plenty of intercept possessions to keep the ball in our forward half. Maddy Zacher (17 disposals), Marie Martino (20 disposals, 9 tackles), Ella Quinn (23 disposals) and Lauren Edwards (19 disposals, 11 tackles) all led the backline superbly and acted like a wall across half back.

Whittaker put the game beyond doubt in the first couple of minutes in the 4th quarter as she converted truly for her fourth goal of the day, stretching our margin to 25 points.

We adjusted to the conditions well and controlled the ball at half forward. We kicked 7 goals from just the 26 inside 50s which was a significant uptick in our forward half efficiency, which was pleasing after working hard to improve this over the past fortnight.

We are hitting great form and picking up momentum as we hit the final round of the season this week. We feel confident about our trajectory and very optimistic about what lies ahead in 2026. Before that, we intend to finish strongly this Saturday evening against West Adelaide, and celebrate and farewell some legends of our club.

GFCW Best: Ash Dyer-Pietsch, Maddy Zacher, Marie Martino, Kaitey Whittaker, Lauren Edwards