VFL Women's Round 3 2016 - VU Western Spurs v St Kilda Sharks

Apr 17, 2016
3 min read

St Kilda have fought off a dogged, disciplined VU Western Spurs to claim a win on the road and stay within striking distance of the top four.

For two and a half quarters, the Spurs successfully frustrated the Sharks by negating their run and denying them room for efficient disposal. As St Kilda continued to miss chances and fail to adjust to the Spurs’ well-applied game plan deep into the third quarter, the Henry Turner Memorial Reserve crowd began to stir at the scent of an upset. However, St Kilda finally burst through the Spurs’ defence through sheer weight of entries forward. The Sharks kicked six goals across a twenty-minute burst to blow the final margin out to 32 points, an unfair indication of what was a mostly dour, scrappy and low-scoring affair.

Before VU Western clamped the locks, St Kilda opened the match with their typical freewheeling game style. With Brianna Davey single-handedly putting St Kilda ahead in the clearances and Jasmine Garner netting a pair within the first ten minutes following a constant flurry of action in the Sharks’ forward line, it seemed as if the contest could turn ugly.

And it did – but only in the way in which the Spurs intended. In the second quarter, the Spurs’ midfielders set a problematic wall across half-back and repelled every blind Shark kick out of defence. Their forwards moved smartly, making space and converting from a series of short, accurate passes. Naomi Ferres, Ainslie Kemp and captain Bree White provided fantastic grunt around the stoppages that led to the Spurs’ forays towards forwards Ash Gunn and Alex Quigley.

The most successful tactic by the Spurs’ brains trust was unfolding deep in defence. Full back Lauren Senserrick had been handed the ominous task of guarding St Kilda’s Moana Hope, who had kicked fourteen goals in her first two matches. By keeping Hope deep in the Sharks’ forward line and denying her any room for bursting onto the lead, Senserrick held the most dangerous player on the field to a handful of possessions and a single goal for three quarters. That goal kick-started St Kilda’s match-winning burst but Senserrick was nonetheless judged best afield for her flawless performance.

St Kilda dominated the third quarter but were repeatedly repelled. The match reached a crossroads where the Sharks would either be defending a slender lead in the final term or break through to kick the goals their forward activity warranted. Happily for them, it was the latter: Tamara Hyett became her side’s main target up forward to kick two second half goals while Garner returned to take her match tally to four. Across the midfield, the Sharks beat the Spurs at their own game as Davey, Phoebe McWilliams and Jenna Bruton provided excellent rebound.

St Kilda coach Shaun Smith was frustrated by his side’s shaky disposal and poor goal kicking, but was pleased that they found a way to win. “You’d love to be able to rely on Mo every week, but some weeks we won’t be able to. So it was great that Tamara [Hyett] became a mobile option up forward.”

VU Western coach Debbie Lee was delighted by her side’s improved ball movement, noting that the Spurs’ inexperienced forward line will improve as the season goes on. Unsurprisingly, she saved her most glowing appraisal for her full back.

“If anyone wants to draft Lauren Senserrick this year, that performance is all they need to watch. She was outstanding.”

St Kilda Sharks 2.1 2.9 5.9 9.11.65 VU Western Spurs 0.0 3.1 3.1 5.3.33 Best – (StK) McWilliams, Garner, Davey, Bruton, Clifford, Cula-Reid. - (VU) Senserrick, Ward, Gunn, White, Quigley, Scott. Goals – (StK) Garner 4, Hope 2, Hyett 2, Gardner. - (VU) Kemp 2, White, Francke, Quigley.