NFC Senior Women

SANFL Match Report – Legs down Westies

After a week off to freshen up over Easter, the Lady Legs looked exactly that hitting the first quarter with intent and enthusiasm in what was a milestone game celebrating Ash Gould’s 50th.

The majority of the game was played in our forward half with the girls dominating play to allow opportunities to score which we did with two majors before the break to set up a handy lead.

West Adelaide came out hard after the break, lifting their work rate and numbers around the ball. It became a rather scrappy game with neither side being able to penetrate going forward. The Lady Legs defence held up strong, repelling several attacks and whilst we did manage to sneak forward, opportunities were missed only registering two behinds for the quarter.

Some changes and restructuring at halftime appeared to work, it was complete domination again by our back six-plus who did not concede an inside 50 for the quarter. Our midfield was right on top, the tap work of Cutting and clearance work of Armitstead, Branford and Maher saw the ball move forward on multiple occasions with the speed that allowed for many opportunities to score. The girls looked dangerous throughout but could not break the game open and were unable to score a major whilst only being able to kick eight behinds for the quarter.

Heading into the last, the message was to put the game out of reach of West Adelaide. An early goal to the opposition still had them within touching distance. Soon after, the game opened up which led to a quick response by Alana Lishmund and another to follow by Lindsay Bigg that put the result beyond doubt.

Strong performances again by Tesharna Maher, Jade Halfpenny, Sophie Armitstead, Sarah Branford, Charlotte Nenke and Leah Cutting (who set the SANFLW record for Hit Outs with 53)

A great all-around four-quarter performance sees us sneak back into the top 4, firmly in finals contention.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 2.2 2.4 2.12 4.12

WEST ADELAIDE: 1.0 1.1 1.1 2.2

GOALS: Lishmund 2, Sporn, Bigg

BEST: Tesharna Maher, Jade Halfpenny, Sophie Armitstead, Sarah Branford, Charlotte Nenke, Leah Cutting