By Daniel Atamian
It’s been another big weekend of football for both our Senior & Development women’s teams as they both went on to win and go 2-0 to start their SEWFL seasons respectively.
The senior women’s team travelled down to Skybus Stadium in Frankston for a Sunday showdown against club rivals the Frankston Dolphins.
It was all Coburg from the opening bounce as the Lions came in hot on the attack with some great forward pressure causing the Dolphins to struggle to get the ball out of their defensive 50 with any ball able to get through into the midfield being smothered by the Burgers counter attack to send the ball back in attack where the Lions small forward pocket rocket Teagan Brett would take advantage of all forward entries in the quarter slotting in not one, not two but three goals to give the Lions a commanding lead going into the quarter time break.
The second quarter saw the Dolphins get the jump on the Lions scoring their opening goal early from the center bounce. Teagan Brett looked for a quick response back snapping at goal, however Frankston’s defense got a hand on the ball as it bounced towards the goal line. However, Coburg would hit the scoreboard again with a major score off a free kick by Shanel Camilleri helping the Lions regain their stronghold on the game again.
The Dolphins would look to open the game up with a quick passage of play to get the ball back into their forward 50 as they had a loose forward on their own ready for the forward entry kick; enter Alana Wenban, the defender “got on her bike” with a strong effort of gut running to the loose player to apply pressure to stop any chance of an easy goal being scored.
The quarter was ended prematurely due to an injury during play to Frankston’s #17 who seemed to collide with the goal post while sliding in to stop a snap on goal kick by Brett which was almost cleaned up by Isabella Hayes.
Third quarter action was touch and go as neither team could get a clean grasp on the ball to control the game. Rachel Burton would try to break the deadlock for control by snapping at goal but would come up short, this would not last as Burton would be awarded for her efforts for a leading mark and converting on the set shot for a Lions major score which she would shortly follow up with another goal. The quarter would also see Ruby Taranto kick her two goals for the game and Teagan Brett slot through her fourth despite a persistent Frankston side which looked dangerous at time on the counter attack.
Entering the fourth quarter everything seemed to be going the Dolphins way as it seemed fatigue started to creep in on the Lions whose defensive seemed to collapse at time giving away free kicks and scrappy play would lead to turn overs for Frankston to convert for major scores.
It would be Camilleri; who scored her second goal for the day as the Lions goal for the quarter as the Dolphins would hit the scored again to outscore the Lions three goals to one, however the surge on attack seemed to have come too late in the game as the Lions would manage to come out as the victors come the final siren.
Seniors Coach Liam Cavanagh said after the game the team performed well overall and are “still trying to play consistent four quarters”.
Cavanagh mentioned that the teams down patches “weren’t too bad” and the team was “able to absorb momentum” as the forwards played well as did the four debutants who all played their role.
Meanwhile in the Development Teams game, the Lions put on a dominant performance against Edithvale-Aspendale as they walked away on a high with a 91 point victory defending home turf at Jackson Reserve, Coburg behind a six goal haul from Shanel Camilleri to also go on a 2-0 start.
Development Team Coach Blake Wadley said postgame that “the girls played well and continue to build confidence and learning our way” but there is “plenty to work on”.
SCORES:
Seniors-
FRA: 0.0.0 | 1.1.7 | 1.1.7 | 4.2.26
COB: 3.3.21 | 4.7.31 | 9.10.64 | 10.14.74
Goals- (4) T.Brett, (2) R.Burton, S.Camilleri & R.Taranto
Development-
COB: 5.4.34 | 8.5.53 | 10.11.71 | 14.14.98
A.E: 1.1.7 | 1.1.7 | 1.1.7 | 1.1.7
Goals- (6) S.Camilleri, (2) J.Nankiville, (1) L.Anderson, S.Craige, M.Kotas, R.May, K.Vanderwolf & A.Volk
Catch more Lions action this week at the following games:
Development Team-
Friday 6 May vs Karingal at 7:30pm (Away- Ballam Park)
Senior Team-
Saturday 7 May vs Tyabb at 4:40pm (Away- Bunguyan Reserve)
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