Tigers come out in full force at the Ponderosa

Saturday afternoon saw us play our first game at Elizabeth. While the weather forecast was for a nice mild day, it ended up being one of the hottest game days we have experienced this season. Playing on the biggest oval in the SANFL with only 16 on the field and in hot conditions can present challenges that are very unique to football in our space. Full credit to our players, most of which have had 2 – 3 big preseasons and are now at the point of being able to perform at a high level for sustained periods of time.

A couple of changes this week, with Grace Duffy playing her first Senior game of the year after some strong form in the Development team following a hand injury throughout the preseason. Sarah Wilton also returned after having a couple of very good games in the Development team.

Our starts have been a big hit and miss this season, so we have been tweaking our pregame routine to try and find the right formula that will have us ready to start the game running. It would be fair to say this week’s routine hit the spot as we put four goals on the board and were able to hold Central District to just one behind in the first quarter, taking a 26-point lead into the break.

Two goals to one in the second quarter saw us extend our lead, but if we were to be a little critical of ourselves, we did miss a couple of gettable opportunities. We headed to the halftime break with a comfortable 34-point lead but knowing that there was plenty of game time left. It was important that our focus was to maintain what we were doing well and to tidy up a few areas that needed improvement.

The third quarter was a bit of an arm wrestle, but pleasingly we were still able to take our opportunities in front of goal to score three goals to one and extend the lead to 44 points. The last quarter was very similar to the third, where we again kicked three goals to one, running out the game with a strong 56-point win.

We head in to the first bye weekend of the season with a 4-1 win-loss record, which is our greatest start to a season ever. We have played some great football so far this season and, like we needed to in this game, we have been able to find different ways to win games when certain parts of our game have been shutdown or have not been executed well enough. A long way to go, but we are well positioned to attack the last seven rounds of the minor round.

Our Development team bounced back strongly this week, where they played some great football across all four quarters. They finished with a very strong 30-point win and, impressively, managed to keep Central District goalless.

With the bye weekend upon us, we will use this opportunity to freshen up physically and mentally. We’ll then look to keep our momentum rolling into Round 6 when we take on West Adelaide on Friday 18^th March at Richmond. Development kick off at 6:15pm and the Seniors at 8:00pm.

Goal kickers: Chelsea Packer (2), Tessa Kohn (2), Caitlyn Swanson (2), Jess Bates, Grace Duffy, Piper Window, Ellie Kellock, Sam Franson, Jess Searle

Best players: Jess Bates, Madisyn Freeman, Sheridan Howell, Tessa Kohn, Chelsea Packer

Final score: CDFC 0.1-1 def by GFC 4.7-31

Goal kickers: Marie Martino (2), Shay’lee Dayman, Demi McCarthy