The dream finish to Kellock’s 50th game

Round 3 saw our inspirational Captain, Ellie Kellock, play her 50^th Glenelg FC game. Ellie is the first GFC Women’s player to register this milestone and just the fourth in SANFLW history. She is a great leader and a tough and fearless competitor who sets a very high standard on and off the field.

The beauty of the Development League is we can now strategically bring back players who have had interruptions in their preparation. The ability for our Deputy Vice Captain, Sammy Franson, to play a couple of games before making her way back into the seniors this week was priceless. Her form in the Development team was outstanding across the first two games, meaning we had no other choice but to select her in the seniors for Round 3. And what a great start to the game she had!

Lauren Edwards (Fish) made her long awaited return to the seniors after strong performances in the first two games with the Development team. Fish had a season off due to pregnancy (and child birth obviously) and our SuperMum has been an incredible source of inspiration as she worked exceptionally hard through her preseason program to methodically build up for her return to football – and into the senior team.

There was also a debut for Renee Wurfel, who had an exceptional first preseason with us after coming into the Tiger family from Reynella FC. She played some great footy in the first two games for our Development team and this opportunity was well and truly earnt.

Our first quarter was very strong going with the breeze, where we were able to lock the ball in our forward half. Pleasingly we kicked three goals, but unfortunately we did concede one to South Adelaide’s only forward 50 entry on the back of a poor marking contest.

Things tightened up in the second quarter and despite going into the breeze, territory battle was fairly even and the scoring shots were one each, a point to us and a goal to South Adelaide.

Once more we dominated the territory battle in the third quarter, but disappointingly we couldn’t capitalise and take our opportunities on the scoreboard, registering just two behinds. We had an 11-point lead heading into the last quarter, with the game well and truly still in the balance.

The last quarter was another arm wrestle, but with a sprinkling of goals thrown in to maintain significant interest in the game. We kicked two of the first three goals within nine minutes of play. An arm wrestle then ensued as we held a 15-point lead. South Adelaide kicked a late goal to bring the margin back to nine points, which is how the game finished up.

I was really proud of our leaders and our playing group this last week. We took the opportunity to reset and get back to enjoying the journey together.

Our Development team continues to go from strength to strength as they had a resounding 67-point win. The depth in our program that we have developed over the off season and preseason has meant that our squad is deeper than it has ever been. This has provided us with pressure for opportunities in both our Senior and Development teams, which ensures everyone needs to perform.

Many thanks to the large number of Tiger supporters we had at the game. It was clearly noticeable by our players and it definitely gave us all a lift.

This week we play the much-improved Eagles on Saturday 26^th February at Hisense Stadium (Richmond Oval) – Development kicks off at 9am and the Seniors at 10:50am. Once again it would be great to see as many supporters there as possible to give us another lift and help us get some momentum into the season.

Goal kickers: Caitlyn Swanson, Sam Franson, Chelsea Packer, Jess Bates, Piper Window 

Best: Jess Bates, Sarah Goodwin, Sam Franson, Violet Patterson, Sheridan Howell

Final score: GFC 10.8-68 def SAFC 0.1-1

Goal kickers: M. Speechley (3), M. Martino (2), E. Boag (2), J. Hill, M. Walker, E. Moxon