A GRADE – West Gambier v Millicent

It was always going to be a tough, high quality contest and the A Grade 2nd semi final between West Gambier and Millicent did not disappoint.

The defensive pressure was intense, the ball movement elite and all the goalers on court stood up to the pressure of finals with good accuracy.

In the end, it was the Saints who advanced to the grand final, leaving reigning premiers West Gambier to tackle North Gambier in this weekend’s preliminary final.

While there was never more than a handful of goals in the contest, it was the Saints who enjoyed the advantage for much of the contest and despite sometimes enjoyed a lead of up to seven goals, the result was always in doubt as the Roos came back time and time again.

In the opening quarter Millicent was able to pressure West into some uncharacteristic errors with Lisa Duldig, Kimmi Tincknell, Lauren van Eeden and Portia McRae working well as a defensive unit to shut down the space and pick up a number of ill advised feeds.

With Tabatha Sanderson solid at the post, netting 11 from 13 in the opening quarter, and Demi Verbena doing a mountain of work in transition and on the drive into the circle, the new look Millicent forward set up with Lillie Paul in a rare outing at wing attack and Duldig back in the centre, kept finding its way through the normally tough Roos defence.

Millicent mid courter Daisy Tunkin is still battling the finger injury she sustained at the end of the minor round.

But despite building an early buffer some good work over the ball from Mikaela Horrigan in the mid court saw the Roos create late turnover ball and by the first change it was a one goal game in Millicent’s favour – a perfect 13 from 13 from Sarah Ritter, ensuring West were right in the contest.

The second followed a similar script to the first, with the Saints starting the stronger and building a buffer.

Verbena dominated this quarter with her work in the goal third as she worked the ball patiently with Paul and Duldig until the space in the shooting circle opened up.

In a rare sharing of the shooting duties, Verbena nailed seven from 10 and Sanderson scored the other 10 as the Saints goal attack’s long range accuracy became a factor.

West’s Lisa McGregor also started to take more of the scoring responsibility in the second as McRae continued to work hard to deny potential match winner Sarah Ritter too much ball.

Leading by six at the main break, the Saints again got the better of the start but West started to up the ante on the defensive pressure with Jade Ritter and Amy Cram starting to be more disruptive and creating some turnover opportunities, while Zoe Malseed was snaring some crucial loose ball gets in what was an intriguing battle with Paul all day.

Sarah Ritter had the radar well and truly turned on in the third with 17 straight in a quarter of perfect shooting from the Roos, with Verbena also not registering a miss.

The four goal three quarter time margin set up a frenetic final quarter and it did not take long for the Roos to make their move, clawing back the deficit and engaging the Saints in a goal for goal battle.

Defensively West was at its relentless best.

Tara Bryant and Malseed were denying the Saints feeders easy access to the circle’s edge and, as it had been for much of the game for both teams, the back play to the centre third transverse line became the norm rather than the exception.

That pressure allowed Cram and Jade Ritter to sit back and they got some important deflections that allowed West to bring it back to a genuine arm wrestle as the sides traded goals for much of the quarter – West grabbing the lead and Millicent equalising.

Both sides were desperate to create that critical turnover and it was the Saints who forced the error in the defensive goal third, scoring to take a one goal lead and then playing the ball around for the remaining few seconds off their own centre pass to book the grand final berth.

No side had a poor player with Verbena’s workload and ability to find Sanderson in space critical, while Duldig also did a mountain of work to be one of Millicent’s best.

Tincknell managed a few interceptions but her work off the ball to work in tandem with Duldig to make finding a way through to McGregor and Sarah Ritter was tough was as impressive as she has been all season, while youngster Paul adapted well to her less familiar role.

McRae and Van Eeden also combined well in the first half to shut down the scoring opportunities, while at the other end Cram and Jade Ritter did a similar tag team role.

Horrigan’s defensive impact was important for the Roos as was Bryant’s hard running and Malseed’s tight checking.

McGregor was again called upon to work high up the court as well as demanding a stack of ball in the goal third and delivering with precision to Sarah Ritter, who shot 52 of West’s 63 goals.


A RESERVE – Millicent v West Gambier


The opening term saw a closely contested battle, as both teams capitalised on turnovers and centre-pass opportunities to convert accurately.

Millicent’s Donna Denton and Tahlia Earl, the goal shooter for West, showcased their dominance under the post, tallying 12 and 13 points, respectively.

Earl a formidable presence despite the relentless pressure from Millicent’s Nikiesha Facey.

In the midcourt, West’s Anna Bosco, and Millicent’s Jackie Sunderland had a great tussle both using their speed to hit the circle edge and find shooters with pinpoint passing.

Scores were locked at 16 a piece at the quarter-time break.

Millicent snapped up an interception through Keely Stuart at the opening whistle which seemed to lift her side as they appeared to gain momentum in the opening minutes of the term.

The Saints WA, Alana Craig and GA, Abby Denton worked the ball patiently in attack to feed Denton under the post.

The Saints patience helped them to take the lead at the break 31-28.

Both sides made changes with the Saints entering Rylee Kenny for Denton and West switching Bosco and Tremelling in the midcourt.

Millicent broke the game open with Denton taking control in the circle nailing 16 for the term.

Millicent’s midcourt, Sunderland and Craig started to find space and hit the circle edge to find Kenny and Denton with patient delivery.

Whilst West struggled to find Earl as Stuart and Facey snapped up loose passes and forced errors.

The Saints held an 11-goal margin at the final change.

West reshuffled midcourt with Bosco back into centre and defender Rachael Langford and Madelyn Milich switched roles to try and combat the Saints’ ball movement.

Milich started well taking some timely intercepts and West pegged the margin back to 8 before the Saints went on a scoring spree.

The defensive pressure of Alice Pratt, Stuart and Sunderland caused held balls and Facey continued to dominate reading the ball to take intercepts.

The Saints ran out winners by 19 with final scores being Millicent 65 to West 46.

The Saints were best served by the hard-running Sunderland and defender Keeley Stuart.

West’s Anna Bosco and Chelsea Tremelling ran hard and applied good pressure for West.


B GRADE – Casterton Sandford v Millicent

The previous encounters between these two sides have been tight and the first quarter started like that before the Cats put their foot down and finished with a 17-goal win and booked the first spot in the Title decider.

Both sides applied tight defensive pressure early and errors through the midcourt meant a low-scoring affair.

The Cats, Shelby Nolte and Saints Michelle Fleming had a tight battle with Nolte scoring all of the Cats first quarter goals.

At the other end, it was Nicole Domaschenz who was the focal point under the post.

The Cats went into the first break with a 2-goal lead.

Another evenly contested quarter with Nolte & Domaschenz continuing to be the focal points for their sides in goals.

The Saints Krystal Coghlan ran hard through the midcourt and had a great battle with the Cats Anna Whillers.

It was the Cats most experienced campaigner in Trictia Clearly who set the pace of the game and used her smarts to help her side take a 6-goal lead at the main break.

The third quarter started at a frantic pace with hard running by Coghlan and Kalli Brown ensuring the Saints were going to fight hard.

Veronica Duncan stepped up her pressure and Kate Patten got some vital touches.

At the other end, it was Nolte who continued to dominate under the post and shoot accurately.

The Cats were able to increase their lead by

2 and take a handy 8 goal lead into the final quarter.

It was all the Cats in the last quarter as Jess Cousins and Emma Grigg stepped up their defensive pressure to limit the Saints scoring opportunities.

Whillers continued to dominate the midcourt and Cleary delivered to Nolte who finished with 11 for the quarter.

The Cats ran out big winners in the end taking the match by 17 goals.

The Cats were best served by the accurate goalie, Shelby Nolte and Centre Anna Whillers and for the Saints Coghlan ran hard all day creating opportunities and Michelle Fleming battled hard in defence.


C GRADE – South Gambier v East Gambier


The C Grade 2nd semi final was a match that had it all.

Both sides had their time ahead on the scoreboard, both had opportunities to build and maintain good leads and in the end it took 14 minutes of overtime to separate South Gambier and East Gambier with the Demons advancing to the grand final.

Both sides are a mix of experience and youth and both had their time to shine.

Experienced East goaler Megan Wilson was the go-to shooter for the Bulldogs and she hit a number of long range shots under pressure as the Bulldogs worked to force the game into overtime.

South shooter Brooke Winterfield, also brought her experience and composure to the table, especially in the tense second half where she netted 14 from 16 in the final two quarters and seven from nine in overtime.

She had a great battle with athletic young defender Brooklyn Jean, who created a stack of turnover ball for her team mates, especially in the opening half where she pounced on any less than perfect feed, especially the long aerial deliveries.

Jean was not the only young gun on court delivering on the big stage, with South goal attack Alannah Clayton dominating the opening quarter and finding her mojo again in the tense overtime where she converted nine from 10 as the Demons ran away with the game to win by seven.

Defender Chelsea Dunn was also critical.

She got a number of important touches and rebounded strongly to continually win the ball back for her team.

The Demons led by two at quarter time and one at half time, before building a four goal three quarter time lead.

That lead blew out to eight early in the last and South looked grand final bound before East found another gear and eventually forced the game into overtime before South again asserted their authority to gain the result they should have had in regulation time.

East’s Zena Creek was composed in the mid court, while Jean and Wilson were the other better players for the Bulldogs, with Grace Ferguson also proving important in transition play, while for South, Winterfield, Clayton and Dunn were dominant with skipper Ella Egan having an influence in the less familiar role of wing attack and Shana Grassi showing good composure in her first senior game for the year while she replaced an injured Misty Dalton, who was able to receive treatment and return to the court late.