Spirited Saints fall short against Essendon
22/04/2024
The Southern Saints went down in a Saturday afternoon thriller against the Bombers.
Photography by Anthony Vella
The Southern Saints took on a speedy Essendon side on Saturday afternoon at The NEC Hangar. Despite some exciting moments that had the Saints edging close to a potential win, Essendon's strength prevailed, leading them to a victory by 9 points.
Essendon started the game fast and used their clean, short ball movement to their advantage, challenging our defenders early and into the second quarter.
Charlotte Ryan showcased her exceptional skills, accumulating 22 disposals around the ground and demonstrating her class when it was most needed.
After some precise end-to-end ball movement from holding contested marks and maintaining possession of the footy, Georgia Foran, who had a move up forward, utilised her strong marking abilities and plucked a significant mark after a kick from Gaby De Angelis to the top of the square ended up in her hands, kicking the first of the Saints' goals.
Sophie Phillips and Tessa Boyd were busy in the third quarter, racking up the ball and winning free kicks to help lift their fellow Saints in their best quarter.
Key Forward Chloe Hunt was strong and used her body on her defender to get her hands on the ball in the goal square. She kicked our second of the day after an impressive and composed kick from Boyd came her way.
Tall Maddi Torpey was winning hit-outs and clearances from the stoppage and was a big part of us winning the third quarter. De Angelis was also impressive when her sharp kicking skills and neat hands around the stoppage came to her advantage. She looked dangerous, got on the end of one, and snapped a goal.
Co-Captain Ali Hynes finished with ten tackles in her 50th VFLW game, while Deanna Jolliffe was as physical as ever in the last term and used her knowledge to help lift her teammates and try to get over the line in what was looking to be a very close game, winning free kicks from tackles. Chloe Saultry was very strong in the air in the last term, not letting the football slip into the hands of an Essendon player and helping keep the ball in our forward half.
Unfortunately, we couldn't convert further and went down by 9 points.
Goal Kickers: G. De Angelis (1) G. Foran (1) C. Hunt (1)
Essendon: 3.3 3.6 4.8 4.10 (34)
Southern Saints: 0.1 1.3 3.6 3.7 (25)
Next Game: V Casey @ Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday 27th April at 9:45am AEST. Watch via the AFL website or AFL/VFL apps.
Written by Darcy Allen - Sandringham FC Media