SANFLW Match Wrap | Round 4

Round 4 saw us travel out to Prospect Oval to face a rapidly improved North Adelaide in good form. Our Reserves set the tone with a fantastic win by 48 points and now sit second on the ladder with one minor round to go.

We were very excited for the debut of two players in our program – Kaitey Whittaker, a tall forward with speed and agility, who has played football for both Norwood and St Mary’s in the NTFL. Joining Kaitey was another debutant in Lakeisha Sheffield, a Glenelg junior from Henley FC. Keish has unique speed, clean foot skills, and composure under pressure. We look forward to both Kaitey and Keish having long and successful careers in the Stripes.

We allowed North Adelaide to get the jump on us in the first quarter with multiple shots on goal, but our defence, lead by Tessa Davis and Lauren Edwards, were both relentless in their lockdown pressure. Towards the end of the first quarter, club stalwart Ellie Kellock suffered an unfortunate knee injury after a brave aerial contest. We needed to adjust quickly and re-work our midfield rotations and balance. Asha Dufour, our 18 yr old recruit, stepped up and led the way with 20 disposals. Kaitey Whittaker got us on the board towards the end of the first with a great dribbling shot on goal from the pocket, after a strong intercept mark by Eloise Mackereth.

Our clearances, first possession, and tackle pressure were all up in the second and third quarters. Despite winning the clearances, we were unable to chain together possession and retain momentum to drive us forward for quality looks inside 50. We allowed North Adelaide to score from our turnovers, and unfortunately, we were unable to punish North Adelaide from our hard work around the contest and stoppage.

Our final quarter was our best of the day, winning possession and inside 50s. We kicked two more goals in succession. Hard running from Jess Bates (35 disposals, 11 clearances) to stretch the ground allowed Georgie Fielder to finish with a goal on the run. Shortly after, Kaitey Whittaker popped through her second of the day by keeping her feet in the contest and snapping on her left.

It’s been a tough start for us from a win-loss perspective but we have plenty of positives that we are focusing on internally, and we will continue to focus on doing the small things well. The group is united and their resilience is something that can’t be taught.

We have a week off for Gather Round but three of our players have been selected in the SA State team to face Victoria this Friday night at Alberton – congratulations to Jess Bates, Marie Martino and Ellie Kellock – great reward for their early outstanding form this season.