Finals Week 2 - Women's Premiership - Dee's vs Sussex Swans

Nuala Clarke | 05.08.22

And so, we had to do it the hard way. Faced with “Grand Final Number 1” the girls knew that this one was do or die.

The stage was set. The sun was shining, the wind was whipping up the grass dust and the brand new gazebos were up. Half of the Sussex team must have got caught up in the train strikes, because they fronted up with 15 players. The coaches hastily moved magnets around and took it in their stride to assemble a towering superbench of 10 players, while we got stuck into warmup with plenty of posi vibes.

Nonetheless, the tone of the game was set early with the girls putting on a spicy skills masterclass. Straight out of the midfield like a well-oiled machine, we brought the wings into play early to great effect. Silky smooth link up play involving Calam, Rach and Katie the length of the wing had the crowd on their feet. It didn’t take long before we were rewarded with a goal from the double cobra herself – Kelsy Dyer.

Our four-woman forward line were kept busy in the second, peppering away at the scoreboard with points (which I heard from Laura L win games). A cracking “go yourself” ruck roving job from Prip saw her hit Kels laces out which secured another goal. At the other end of the ground, the backs lead by Palmer with special cameos from Hannah, Jess and Ando were cool, calm, and collected under pressure. Georgia must have been given the good stuff at A+E on Friday, because she was playing like a woman possessed. Charging through the opposition and taking pack marks like it was nothing saw her take home the coveted players player award.

Goal of the day came late in the third from the forward general herself – Schmidty. Taking inspiration from Prip’s earlier effort and feeling hungry herself, she roved her own tap and snapped a ripper snag from the boundary line. The team came from all sides to celebrate the magic.

Calam, Gem and Tay worked tirelessly all day in the guts and were well supported by our new super wings Hux and Rach, both of which looked like they were playing on The G with miles of space and a few cheeky bounces thrown in. Rach also didn’t want to be outdone by Georgia’s marking efforts and threw herself at everything, taking goal saving marks in defence (shades of Goalie Rach) and creating chances by fingertips on the wall.

Let me tell you – footy was not designed to be played with 14 on the field. Although we were feeling the effects, we did not let up in the last quarter and credit to Sussex – neither did they. The scoreboard didn’t reflect the intensity in the last quarter on the pitch with the ball swinging from end to end with no reward. It was pack mark aplenty and newly minted ruck Maddy was an excellent tall target all day. Unfortunately, the ball itself had her number and her day ended with a sickening finger injury – proving again bones are definitely meant to stay on the inside! All the best to Maddy in her recovery!

When the final siren blew it was jubilation – but don’t get me wrong, this is not job done. Our attention since then has firmly been big dance this weekend against a very familiar foe. I can’t wait to absolutely take it to them. Go Dees

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