A COMBINED 13 goals and 23 marks from trio Georgie Brisbane, Grace Belloni and Emma McDonald helped Vic Metro produce a dominant 94-point win over the Allies in the opening match of the 2024 AFLW Under 18 Championships. Metro put the foot down with seven first quarter goals to nil and never looked back from there, just falling short of a triple-digit victory.

From the get-go it was clear Vic Metro was there to play, and having spent more time as a unit than the Allies, the visitors made the most of a side still working out its defensive combinations. After the Allies broke the opening deadlock with a behind, Metro piled on nine goals in a blistering 23 minutes to essentially end the contest early in the second quarter.

By that stage, Brisbane, Belloni and McDonald all had two majors, and the Allies had no answers for their aerial ability. Though the forwards feasted, it was actually the Allies midfielders who had the better of their opponents around the stoppages, particularly in the first half, leading clearances by nine (17-8) but had conceded 25 inside 50s to 16.

Tasmanian duo Lucy Thompson and Priya Bowering were trying hard in the middle, while Sydney Swans Academy wing Emma Juneja was directing traffic on the outside and working hard back into defence to mop up. But unfortunately despite having the clearance differential, they could not convert it into inside 50, and Metro had scored 11 goals from 25 entries.

After finally having some inside 50 time midway through the second term, the Allies broke through via Emma Stark who clunked a mark amongst a host of her Oakleigh Chargers teammates to bring some life to the home side and provide a spark. Unfortunately her major was followed by two more goals from Brisbane who ended the half with four majors to her name, and Vic Metro looked as hungry as ever.

Boasting a 60-point lead at half-time, Metro had not only done the offensive things well, but also provided some defensive highlights, including a fantastic run-down tackle from Stasia Stevenson to provide her teammates with a shot on goal. Both Thompson and Harriet Bingley had chances late in the quarter, with the one shot touched on the line and the other hitting the post.

To the Allies’ credit despite the one-sided scoreline, they kept cracking in through the third term and produced their best quarter of the day. Ash Patton showed some classy moves and kicked a nice goal off hands, and the defence kept the powerful Metro forwardline goalless up until the last three minutes of the quarter where Belloni marked and goaled twice to join Brisbane on four goals.

Brisbane would kick her fifth early in the fourth, as Metro got back on top, with three goals in the space of six minutes midway through the quarter – including two to McDonald – to eventually run away with the 17.11 (113) to 2.7 (19) win.

There were no shortage of stars on the Metro side who had 99 more disposals (333-234), 24 more marks (73-49), 23 more hitouts (40-17) and 19 more inside 50s (46-27), though the Allies can take some solace from maintaining a clearance win (29-22) and the next step will be looking to convert those clearances into inside 50s and then subsequent scores.

Belloni (23 disposals, eight marks and four goals) had an enormous game, with Brisbane (15 disposals, seven marks and five goals) sublime, while McDonald arguably could have scored the most goals of the lot had it not been for some inaccuracy, kicking 4.3 from 10 disposals and eight marks and even passing one off late in the final term to Sierra Grieves.

Speaking of Grieves, she recorded an equal game-high 25 disposals and six clearances, the same numbers as Sandringham Dragons’ Sophie McKay who was strong through the match. Chloe Bown was huge in the first half with 13 touches, four marks and four inside 50s, before finishing with the 19 disposals and six marks. Sarah Poustie, Stevenson and Holly Ridewood also had more than their fair share of memorable moments.

For the Allies, the clear two standouts were Bowering (24 disposals, three marks, two tackles, five clearances, three inside 50s and two rebound 50s) and Juneja (18 disposals, five marks and three clearances), while Imogen Brown (12 disposals, 11 tackles and thee clearances) and Thompson (11 disposals, four clearances and five inside 50s) also tried hard. Patton had her moments but was limited through opportunity up forward, as Ellie Hall did well under siege.

ALLIES 0.1 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 (19)
VIC METRO 7.2 | 11.4 | 13.6 | 17.11 (113)

GOALS:
Allies: E. Stark, A. Patton
Vic Metro: G. Brisbane 5, G. Belloni 4, E. McDonald 4, G. Knight, S. Poustie, C. Bown, S. Grieves

RMC BEST:

Allies: P. Bowering, E. Juneja, L. Thompson, I. Brown, E. Hall
Vic Metro: G. Belloni, G. Brisbane, E. McDonald, S. Stevenson, S. Grieves