This week Strathalbyn hosted Round 7. There had been some welcome rain on Saturday so the oval was a little soggy early but looked in great condition. Sixteen Strath girls combined with 9 from Yankalilla playing against McLaren and Mt Compass combined. It made for some congested footy at times but when the ball did come out of the rolling maul there was space for girls to run and use their pace. We had 7 girls playing up with the U17’s so they all played 2 or 3 quarters and then went and warmed up with the older girls. This meant the other girls took more key positions where they all excelled. We even played the last quarter with one less player but it wasn’t noticeable. Its a credit to the depth and talent of the Strath girls that they can step up when required. This was also very evident in the U17 game where none of the U14’s looked out of place. With one goal to Millie and a couple to one of the Yank girls, the combined Reds won the game with continued pressure in the forward lines bringing opportunities for goals. Final score was “roughly” 3:5 to 2:0. I’ve been encouraging the girls to play on whenever they can (except right in front of goal!) and it was great to see more of this happening. One who excelled at this on Sunday was Caitlyn who played her best game of footy yet; a deserving winner of our Best Player this week (donated by Country Canines Mobile Dog Wash). Lastly, a big thankyou to the Mums who gave up part of their Mothers Day to come and cheer on their Daughters. Thanks especially to Natasha for Team Managing as she does every week!

All 17 Strath U14 girls travelled to McLaren this week, combining with 14 girls from Victor, playing against a combined McLaren and Mt Compass. This meant 22 a side on the ground with a heap of girls on the bench. Most girls got 3 full quarters, with 9 changes each break!
It was a congested game around the packs but when the ball came out there was some excellent running and ball movement by the Strath/Victor “Rooster-Roos”. The ball spent a lot of time in our forward 50 and it was great to see a number of players in particular staying a kick out. Sienna (pictured above) was one who ran and kicked the ball back into our 50 numerous times.
There was some really creative play during the game, with some excellent marking, tackling, running to space and shepherds for team-mates. There were some great runs of play down the wings with multiple bounces by Marley and Lily. It’s also fantastic to see numerous second and third efforts from the girls.
Zoe kicked 2 goals playing up forward, with one from Lily (after kicking 5 points!), one to a Victor girl and a goal to Charlotte Diepgrond with one of her longest kicks ever!
Four of our girls played with the U17’s this week with more to play up a grade in coming weeks.
This week the pizza voucher donated by Cafe Ruffino goes to Zoe for her two goals and the award donated by Country Canines Mobile Dog Wash goes to Charlotte for her excellent goal!
This Sunday we play at home at 11:30 so why not come down before Mother’s Day lunch to have a look at some of the exciting Junior female talent playing for the club!

With ANZAC day on Sunday this year, the girls matches this week are a bit all over the place. The U17 girls played at home under lights against Yankalilla, with both teams lining up pre-game for the Last Post and the National Anthem to honor the ANZAC’s.
The Strath girls played a great style of team footy right from the first bounce. Solid attacking footy, lots of run and voice amongst the team carried through to 3 goals being scored to Yanks none in the first quarter. Amber Grove was dominating in the ruck and gave her centre players the first opportunity at many contests.
Lilli Mitchell gave the side plenty of run and drive and created many opportunities for the forwards to capitalise, while Ruby McBeath was collecting possessions in all corners of the ground. Willow Rose was the focal point up forward and made the most of the hard work from her team-mates through the middle. Charlotte Walsh was solid in defence, working hard all game.
Strath kicked another 5 goals for the match in a consistent display of team footy, running out winners 8.3 to Yanks 3.1.
There were nine U14 players who stepped up and none of them looked out of place playing with the older age group.
The girls now have a small weekly Best Player award donated by Country Canines Mobile Dog Wash and Grooming and the deserving winner this week was Ruby, backing up her great work in the centre by making good position in the forward-lines to also kick 4 goals.

We started a bit slowly and let Willunga/Victor get the jump on us. Our girls were second to the ball and contesting from behind rather than playing in front. Willunga have a number of very good players and managed to kick a goal with a lot of the play in their forward line. After quarter time the combined “Reds” improved and the next three quarters were played mainly in our forward line. There were some great runs of play down the wings with excellent marking skills on show; girls were playing on with lots of voice and backing up. There were also some great second and third efforts from a number of girls. We ended up kicking a couple of goals (and a fair few points) in a great exhibition of Junior Girls footy.

Special mentions to Charlie D for a couple of marks and brave efforts across the game, Jorja who keeps improving every week and Kaydee who rucked the whole game from one end of the ground to the other. A massive special mention to Charlotte Collins who played three games on Sunday; U17’s, the Open Women and then her usual “fox terrier like” game in U14’s, including kicking a couple of goals.

This year we are lucky to have a weekly best player prize donated by Cafe Ruffino – a small pizza voucher – this week it goes to Lily for her run along the wings placing continuous pressure on the opposition defenders.

A short week ahead as we will play Yankalilla at 5pm on Friday evening (at Strathalbyn), followed by the U17’s at 6pm. The bar will be open with Friday night meals available as well. More details later in the week.