Kangaroos cause upset to create history

NORTH Melbourne has created history for itself, defeating Williamstown by three goals to progress through to its very first VFLW Grand Final.

The Kangaroos did not kick a goal for almost half the match, but that was after a six goal to one second term that really did the job for them.

It was a congested start to proceedings, but slowly but surely the Seagulls worked their way closer to goal.

Eventually Sharnie Whiting was able to reward her side’s early territory dominance by slotting through the first goal from the tightest of angles.

Even after the restart, the Seagulls’ midfielders were far too dominant for their North Melbourne counterparts, with the likes of Ashlee Thorneycroft, Megan Williamson and Emily Eaves dominating the clearance and locking the ball in their attacking 50 well, and applying strong defensive pressure on the counter.

Although the Seagulls may have been doing all the attacking, they were not making the Roos pay on the scoreboard with inaccurate kicking a real issue.

North Melbourne did manage to get the ball inside their forward 50 at the beginning of the second half of the term, but the Williamstown defensive pressure meant that it was near impossible for the visitors to get a shot away.

Unfortunately for the Roos they were unable to put any score on the board while the ball was in their 50, and the Seagulls worked the ball back to their 50 and made their opponents pay when Molly Simpson pulled out a miraculous goal from nothing to put a second goal on the board for the home side.

The Roos did eventually get a score on the board mere seconds after the restart, but unfortunately there were no goals. But, just as it looked like the Roos were going to go goalless for the term, Georgia Nicholas stood up and slotted through one with under a minute left in the term.

This left the margin sitting at seven points in the Seagulls’ favour at quarter time.

The Seagulls were quick out of the middle in the second term, and Whiting had her second goal for the day on the board inside the first 30 seconds of the quarter.

But just as quickly as the Seagulls had recorded that goal, the Roos got the ball into their 50 off the restart, and although it took them a while they eventually got their second goal of the game, this time through Jennifer Guy.

Tahlia Meier got North Melbourne a second goal for the term minutes later and all of a sudden the margin was a mere point.

North Melbourne was really starting to get on top in the midfield, and as such were starting to dominate forward territory.

Renee Tierney eventually got the Kangaroos’ third in a row, and all of a sudden the lead was now the visitor’s.

Nyakoat Dojiok quickly made it four, then five in a row for the Roos, and things had well and truly flipped in favour of the visitors.

North Melbourne was not done on the scoring front for the quarter, with Audrey Rhodes getting herself on the scoreboard.

In the end the Roos took a four-goal lead into the main break, and the script of the game had taken a very different turn to how things were looking only 20 minutes earlier.

Crucially for the Seagulls, the first goal of the third term went their way when Emily Eaves took a fantastic mark in a pack and kicked truly.

That goal sparked a bit of something for the Seagulls, as Whiting drilled her third through mere minutes later and suddenly the margin was half of what it was at the main break.

Williamstown were starting to get back on top in the midfield battle, with ruck Cat O’Bryan even making her mark in that department, and as a result they were getting rewarded with a domination in attacking 50 time.

North Melbourne did have their chances in attack but could only muster a single behind for the term as the Williamstown defence held strong.

Williamstown was attacking hard in the final few minutes of the quarter, and almost got itself within a kick of the Roos but thanks to a shot hitting the post the margin was 11 points at the final change.

The Seagulls dominated the attacking 50 momentum early in the final term, but as hard as they tried they just could not get past Jess Jones and the rest of the North Melbourne defence.

As the minutes ticked down, it was starting to look like neither side was going to get a score for the term as the defensive pressure from both sides was immense, but eventually the Roos did get a crucial behind to make things that little bit more difficult for their more fancied hosts.

The seconds continued to tick down and the defensive pressure remained intense, so neither side really looked like scoring.

Eventually Alana Barba broke free of the pack, and after several bounces slotted a goal through from deep in the pocket to put the icing on the cake.

WILLIAMSTOWN                        2.3 | 3.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 (35)

NORTH MELBOURNE                 1.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 8.5 (53)

GOALS:

Williamstown: S.Whiting 3, M.Simpson, E.Eaves

North Melbourne: N.Dojiok 2, R.Tierney, A.Rhodes, G.Nicholas, T.Meier, J.Guy, A.Barba

BEST:

Williamstown: E. Eaves, M. Williamson, S. Whiting, A. Thorneycroft, L.Blue

North Melbourne: A.Barba, N,Dojiok, R.Tierney, T.Meier, A.Rhodes

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments