Zillmere 4.2.26 defeated by Coolangatta 17.14.116
Just when you thought Coolangatta couldn’t be in better form, they pull off a 90 point win over Zillmere, two weeks before they are set to meet again in finals.
It was a scratchy start from the Bluebirds; they were finding the ball and sending it forward, but kicked six behinds before registering their first goal.
Zillmere were in the match early, they were competitive and fighting hard against the strong wind.
In the second quarter Cooly meant business, piling on seven goals, with the likes of Morgan Lowe and Kalinda Howarth looking dangerous up forward.
In the third and fourth, they extended their lead even further. Ally Anderson and Kylie Lawrence fought hard in what was a difficult day for the Eagles.
Cooly Captain Leah Kaslar led from the front in a BOG performance, and Howarth bagged six.
Check out the live blog recap from the game at aflq-new.fspdev.com!
Zillmere 1.0, 2.2, 3.2, 4.2 (26)
Coolangatta 2.8, 7.9, 12.9, 17.14 (116)
Goals:
Coolangatta K. Howarth 6, M. Lowe 3, L. Kaslar 2, N. Wallace 2, J. Membrey, T. Dunne, A. Clarke, N. Iriks
Best:
Coolangatta L. Kaslar, M. Lowe, N. Wallace, S. Goodman , K. Howarth, M. Roberts
Coach’s Thoughts:
Aaron Russell, Coolangatta
“Our ball use can still get cleaned up a bit, our first quarter was obviously frantic and usually they are in a tight hustle where there is a bit on the line.”
“We’ve never really been able to get a hold of Zillmere this year, it was the biggest win we’ve had, it was good to be able to get a good win on them.”
“We obviously want to be playing good footy at the end of the year, and we’re going to be playing them again in two weeks, so we want to make sure that it doesn’t cause us to fall into any mental state where we rest.”
“Despite getting the goals on paper, Kalinda does a lot of team things, and she wants to make sure she contributes with and without the ball.”
“They’ve (Zillmere) always shown that they’re a good opposition for us, always provided some really tight contests, they’re capable, and there’s no reason they can’t bounce back from that.”
Jacob Simmons-Bliss, Zillmere
“We were quite happy as a team where we were at quarter time, it was a couple of goals in it, and despite they had a few more scoring shots, we were happy with how we were competing.”
“A lot of our problems started within the second quarter, we didn’t look as interested in the contest as we could have been, as team and as coaches we were definitely not pleased with the effort.”
“It was all kick and catch style footy, rather than trying to play our way, that’s where we got caught undone and we put ourselves under pressure.”
“We move on from today, and we move on real quick.”
“We understand that we’re good enough, we know that we can compete, so if we can move on and put this behind us, it will make us, if we don’t, today would have broken us.”
“We just need to go back to what we know best, if we can execute that, in two weeks time it will be a very good day for us.”
Wilston Grange 0.0.0 defeated by Yeronga 21.18.144
The first ten minutes of this match was close and contested before the Devils kicked into gear and started putting on scoreboard pressure.
Nerves looked high initially, with Yeronga racking up nine behinds and Wilston Grange missing targets up forward.
But the Devils came out firing after the first break with a nine goal three second term thanks to some fine forward entry work and slick ball movement.
Jade Ransfield booted a QWAFL season high 12 goals to join Kalinda Howarth in first place on the goal kicker board.
Final Score:
Wilston Grange 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 (0)
Yeronga 2.9, 9.12, 14.17, 21.18 (144)
Goals: Wilston Grange
Yeronga J. Ransfield 12, H. Newberry 2, J. Vandyk 2, D. Leach 2, E. Allen, E. Bates, K. McCarthy
Best: Wilston Grange E. King, I. Collings , K. Lutkins, M. Cubis, H. Thompson, K. Terry
Yeronga J. Ransfield, D. Kimmince, E. Bates, R. Winterbottom, S. Virgo, J. Watts
Coach’s Thoughts:
Marcus MacDonald-Camden, Wilston Grange
“We kept them (Yeronga) accountable for actually winning the ball hard, they weren’t getting easy kicks.”
“It was really good to see the girls make them work as best we could.”
“At one point we were down to 18, we had a few injured, it was good to see the girls keep battling the four quarters.”
“It definitely wasn’t our best game, but the effort was there and as a coach it was really good to see.”
“Elisha King was best on ground, she ran four quarters out in the middle in a very tough game up against a quality opposition, she was clean around the contest, and she wasn’t afraid to go up in the rack when our concentration lapsed.”
“Indiah Collings was very similar, when the ball was near her she did the best to win it, and she when couldn’t get there first she did her best to create a stoppage.”
“It’s been a tough season but to see the girls rocking up to training with the same intent and never once did we crack or falter with each other.”
Scott Stephens, Yeronga
“The girls went out and did everything that I expected of them, so I was very happy.”
“After quarter time we tidied up our goal kicking, despite kicking nine behinds in the first quarter where the girls were a little bit panicky.”
“We set a challenge to the girls to maintain their intensity and effort over the four quarters, after the game it was a really satisfying that we’d achieved that and it gave them the boost they needed going into finals.”
“Everyone came through the game unscathed which is important before finals.”
“When we come up against UQ in a couple of weeks time, it’s going to be no different to when we played them the last three times, we will still be implementing our game plan, but we will draw off Saturday’s win.”
UQ 3.4.22 defeated by Coorparoo 5.4.34
Despite their challenges in 2017, the Navy Roos commitment on field hasn’t faltered all season.
At times they’ve been rewarded and Saturday was one of those days. UQ were down a few with injury and had some girls away, and Coorparoo pounced on this.
There was no better match for Coorparoo to win, than over archrivals UQ, to finish off their 2016 campaign on a high.
The Navy Roos started off the match with a bang, kicking three unanswered goals.
UQ had a good crack in the third, but Coorparoo played their last 20 minutes of football with aggression, commitment and spirit.
They added two goals and it was enough to walk away with one of their proudest wins of the season.
For UQ, a win over Coorparoo was crucial to get back some much-needed form, as a final against Yeronga awaits.
Final Score: UQ 0.1, 1.1, 3.2, 3.4 (22)
Coorparoo 3.3, 3.3, 3.3, 5.4 (34)
Goals: UQ A. Mack, M. Hunt, J. Sullivan
Coorparoo E. Gibson 2, A. Hansom, J. Taylor, A. Duxfield
Best: UQ T. Joyce, B. Koenen, C. McCormick, M. Hunt, B. Barnes, G. Walpole
Coorparoo R. Crack, G. Paulsen, S. Young, A. Duxfield, B. Spence, C. Kawana
3 Things We Learnt:
- Cooly looking dangerous as we gear up for finals
In the last two weeks they’ve knocked off fellow finals contenders UQ, by 57 points, and now, Zillmere by 90 points.
Kalinda Howarth, Morgan Lowe and Jordan Membrey are performing brilliantly up forward, taking some great marks and crumming loose balls.
In the midfield, Nikki Wallace, Leah Kaslar and Selina Goodman are ticking all the boxes.
Charlie Duke is shutting down opposition key forwards and Naomi Simpson is rebounding off halfback beautifully.
- Dramatic finish to the Leading Goal Kicker
Jade Ransfield certainly knows how to spoil a party.
Heading into the final round it looked a two-way race for the leading goal kicker title, with Kalinda Howarth on 32 and Tayla Harris 30.
With a six goal haul against Zillmere, Howarth looked to have the award in the bag.
Cue Ransfield; who clearly didn’t get the memo, booting a remarkable 12 goals to secure a two-way tie.
Coach Scott Stephens was proud of her effort. “We were aware before the game that she needed twelve to tie the goal kicking and the girls worked hard to help her get that twelve,” Stephens said. “They were certainly looking for her inside 50, but Jade had to be good enough to get the ball and finish off.”
- Two clear frontrunners
A week’s rest for most players courtesy of Saturday Night’s Women’s Exhibition Match in Melbourne gives the top four a chance to rest bodies and get their final preparations in place.
QWAFL finals’ see two do-or-die games; 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. That’s Coolangatta vs. Zillmere and Yeronga vs. UQ.
Coolangatta and Yeronga have been the best teams all year, their Round 16 performances confirming their quality.
Zillmere and UQ both have big names set to come back from injury.
We all know intensity lifts to another level in September and it only takes one match to put the whole competition on a spin.
