A hard and fast start from Vic Metro against Eastern Allies has seen the side remain undefeated across the AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships. Metro started strong and did not look back with a convincing 72-point victory credit to their strong structures and star players right across the field. The scoreboard at times was not reflective of the competitive nature of the game with both sides fighting hard to win the footy at the coalface and create scoring opportunities.

The first quarter saw Metro lock the ball in their forward half early, snagging four goals to nil in a massive confidence boosting 15 minutes, all but cementing victory with their consistency and cleanliness from the get-go. Defensively Metro switched on, cutting off the Allies coming off half back and not letting the Allies enter inside 50. Against a massively talented Metro side, the Eastern Allies put in the hard yards defensively, finding plenty of footy through intercept marks but having difficulty connecting through the midfield.

While Eastern found plenty more opportunities in the second, the side continued to struggle forward, unable to cleanly get the ball down the field with difficulty lining up for goal. With plenty of turnover ball churned up in defence the Allies found some good space inside 50 but were unable to take advantage of the space they found. Defensively however, the Allies stood strong and denied Metro space to drive forward for a large part of the quarter, before Nell Morris-Dalton found space to kick true with four minutes left in the quarter. The Allies limited Metro to only the two goals in the second, with their back six going hard into every contest to deny clean access to the footy in their back 50.

The third quarter saw Vic Metro add another two goals to the tally, once again leaving Allies in the dust as they found plenty of space down the ground. The Allies worked to the bone defensively but were unable to get any reward, credit to the pressure and defensive efforts of Metro cutting off opportunities. The Allies were rushed with the ball, with Metro dominating every contest and giving the Allies a headache with their ability to find space with the ball and cause errors with their read of the play. However the Allies still continued to fight, doing everything they could to force errors from the classy Metro side and taking some impressive contested marks as they did.

A massive three goal nil final term saw Vic Metro finish well with yet another convincing win. Credit to their class and composure Metro finished their campaign undefeated with wins against Eastern Allies, Queensland and Western Australia this week. Metro started well once more, whipping out the party tricks despite the continued defensive efforts of the Allies. The Allies made Metro work hard for the ball inside 50, but Metro had just too many goalkicking options forward, with too many entries for Eastern Allies to stop. It was Metro’s zone defence that kept them strong, coming off the body to clog the space and form good connections across the field, causing issues to the Allies as they forced them to chip kicks around to find free players. The likes of Georgia Patrikios and Gabby Newton both stood up once again with the two of them showcasing their class with ball in hand using the footy effectively and efficiently. For the Allies the Mia King was her usual self winning plenty of the footy and contesting hard at every opportunity while teammate Abby Favell made her presence felt on the field with some strong tackles and good attacking intent to win the ball.

VIC METRO 4.4 | 6.5 | 8.9 | 11.9 (75)
EASTERN ALLIES 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 (3)

GOALS:

VM: N. Morris-Dalton 2, J. Fitzgerald, E. Harley, L. McClelland, F. Theodore, G. Newton, C. Saxon-Jones, N. Xenos, A. Van Oosterwijck.
EA: Nil.

BEST:

VM: G. Newton, G. Patrikios, G. Lagioia, N. Morris-Dalton, L. McClelland.
EA: B. Tarrant, A. Favell, M. King, O. O’Donnell, S. Phillips