WHILE she did not read too much into any pre-match predictions, South Australian coach Narelle Smith was “really pleased” that her side could knock off a “fully loaded” Victorian outfit when the SANFLW got up in the annual State Game on Saturday by two points. The Croweaters won 3.4 (22) to 2.8 (20) to reverse the result of 12 months earlier.

Smith said the side went in with a “really simple” gameplan and were able to execute it well to come away with the win. The home team achieved it despite a devastating knee injury to Katelyn Rosenzweig, and constantly being challenged by a Victorian team that had plenty of former AFLW players running around.

Despite all the experience across her side, it was one of the youngest members of the team in Bulldog over-ager Mikaylah Antony who won best afield honours, starring through the middle in a role that Smith had assigned to her though the 18-year-old even had doubts on herself.

“Mikaylah Antony was obviously a clear standout for me and I spoke to her during the week and she said ‘oh are you sure you want to play me full mid for the game?’ and I said ‘absolutely’,” Smith said. “Because I feel like she’s got some absolute weapons with her pace and her foot skills. “She’s an absolute competitor, so hopefully she does well in the Preseason Draft.”

Smith was pleased the league could hand out a number of debuts to promising players – including a quartet of teenagers – with the decision between experience and youth always a big talking point at the selection table.

“It’s a fine balance isn’t it?” Smith said. “Between wanting to win and state pride and all that kind of thing, and making sure that we give young players an opportunity to showcase themselves and I think we had the balance right.”

For the reigning SANFLW Grand Final coach, Smith was pretty keen to remain consistent in her coaching methods for the state side as she is for her Woodville-West Torrens team despite such a diverse range of personalities from across the league.

“I really try to maintain the status quo and don’t move too much outside of the DNA of who I am as a coach,” Smith said. “I always make sure that there’s a really balance between performance and fun, and making sure that people enjoy the experience and connect with some other people. “I don’t think that’s too much differently to how I go about it at the Eags. “It’s very similar, but also very different if I can say that with some hypocrisy.”

While finding out more about the players as humans, Smith didn’t believe she would take too much more intel into the season with her side than what she would have known previously. Instead she said it was more about “respect” between opposition coaches and players.

“It might give you a little bit of an advantage, but for me it’s more about building respect between programs and between players and coaches, so I respect all those players that played on Saturday and I respect how they go about their business,” she said. “Now I know them a little bit more as a human, which can only raise my respect for them.”

While celebrating the success of the win, aside from the obvious upcoming SANFLW Round 1, Smith will cast her eye across the league as the State Team prepares for a second match, this time against the WAFL Women’s. Unlike the Victorian game last year, the Croweaters defeated the West Australians, and are going for three on the trot.

For Smith, she was keen to see which other players would put their hands up over the first three rounds. While Rosenzweig would be a forced change, the coach expects at least a few more based on how the formlines stack up early in the year.

“We started with a squad of I think it was about 32, and we only had two trial matches to actually have a look at how they were travelling,” Smith said. “I do like to use the ethos of form over reputation, but we probably had to lean in a little bit towards reputation for game one.

“Obviously there will be someone that we’ve missed, and they’ll get three games to show us that they’re worthy to come into a winning side. “I think Holly Ifould from South was really unlucky to miss, and it was probably a little bit of not knowing where she’s at currently, but I’ll be watching her over the first three rounds.”