By Nick Creely
VICTORIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE – WOMEN’S
REVIEW – ROUND 7
Not much luck has been associated with Cranbourne in 2017 – and it continued on Saturday with a heavy 79-point loss to the red hot VU Western Spurs.
As a result, the Eagles sit third last with a 2-5 record, and face a tricky battle to remain relevant in this year’s premiership race.
The Spurs showed no mercy to the undermanned Eagles, kicking away to a 41-point quarter time lead, and eventually left the Eagles goalless in the first half while piling on three goals in the second term.
Hayley Wildes finally hit the scoreboard in the third quarter, but the game was iced as the Spurs kicked on once again with a five goal second half.
“We had 11 out – with what we had we battled hard all day and did the best we could – they’re a first class side,” Eagles coach Sein Clearihan said.
“When you take quality players out of the side you’re always going to struggle – but the kids I brought up they battled all day and couldn’t do any more than that.
“To the girls’ credit – they had a real crack and that’s all you can ask for – the scoreboard probably dosen’t reflect that, but we were proud of their efforts.”
Clearihan said that the Spurs are a team of genuine quality, and taught his side a lot about ball movement and work ethic.
“They moved the ball really quickly – at some stages we were up for it, and at others stages they completely destroyed us,” he said.
“In the end I was just moving magnets around to see what we could do.”
With another tough challenge against the supremely talented Darebin Falcons on Saturday, Clearihan said it will be another great learning curve for his youngsters as he waits for his senior heads to return.
“I won’t have anyone back for another two to three weeks away – I’ll get Jasmine Grierson back this week which adds a bit but Romy Timms goes out for a couple of weeks – it seems to be two in three out at the moment,” he said.
“We just have to guide the girls and give them instruction – this week we have Darebin, and we are going to put in a couple of kids.
“Daisy Pearce is supposedly playing, so I might run a kid on Daisy and give her a chance to learn the game – we will give it our best shot, but when eight or nine top liners are out, you’re up against it.”
The game is set to be played at Casey Fields at 11am, right before the TAC Cup clash between Gippsland Power and Sandringham Dragons.
VU WESTERN SPURS 6.5 9.8 11.10 14.12(96)
CRANBOURNE 0.0 0.3 1.4 2.5(17)
VU WESTERN SPURS
GOALS: A. Kemp 4, S. Jolly 2, A. Gunn 2, T. Morgan, L. Murphy, J. Davies, E. Skinner, A. Mifsud, B. White.
BEST: A. Kemp, S. Lampard, C. Hardeman, B. White, R. Gastin, S. Jolly.
CRANBOURNE
GOALS: S. Cutting, H. Wildes.
BEST: B. Moody, R. Pearce, N. Garner, E. Wallace, K. Ripari, L. Olsen.
