Eastlake to strong for Tigerettes.

By the twelve minute mark of the first term Eastlake had banged on 4 goals 2 with the ball barely getting past half way and it looked as though a tough month of footy was going to catch up with the Tigerettes as the five time premiers of the competition looked set for another huge victory similar to the 19 goal romp in round 2.

But to their credit the Tigerettes regrouped and slowly worked their way back into the contest and from this point on made Eastlake work extremely hard eventually going down by 45 points.

In the first term the Tigerettes were consistently second to the ball and the Eastlake players shepherded well for each other giving themselves time and space. After quarter time the Tigerettes started returning fire with Pip Butt and Roni Jordan in particular laying a couple of very heavy shepherds. Other highlights in the quarter was the work of Bobbie Minniecon off half back, in one piece of play beating several opponents to advance the ball almost 80 metres with great second, third and fourth efforts. Maddi Skinner was also playing well using her speed off half forward to get first hands on the footy and get rewarded with a couple of free kicks.

Jane Vucago set the scene early in the third term beating three opponents on the wing half back which allowed the ball to move forward where Roni and Fran Langi were offering good targets. Fran made the most of an opportunity 25m out from goal kicking truly to get the Tigerettes started. Tegan Tisma worked very hard and laid a couple of great tackles throughout the term. Dani Louis was again showing great leadership and strength all over the ground before injuring an ankle late in the term. The back line worked really well together to hold the Eastlake team to just one goal for the term. Late in the quarter Sarah Van Meurs looked to have kicked the Tigerettes second for the term but it was deemed to have hit the post – still the team had “won” the third quarter by a point – a pretty fair effort for a developing team against a competition powerhouse containing ACT rep players on every line.

An Eastlake goal within a minute in the final term looked to be an ominous sign but the Tigerettes did what they have down over the last month and ran the game right out not allowing the Eastlake team another goal for the game, and should probably have kicked one of their own but Roni’s shot missed from close range.

The team’s ability to fight to the death was all the more impressive as the team lost creative half forward Gez Croke to an elbow injury early in the last term as well as giving skippers Dani and Kristen Turner well deserved rests late in the game. Shay Thomas and Tracey Mosely also battled strongly in the back line despite neither being at 100% fitness. Mother and daughter pair Siau Goh and Clarice Huston were also their reliable selves with Clarice standing tall in the back line and Siau trying hard up forward.

Next weekend the team plays Gungahlin – the team immediately above them on the ladder and an improved team that has also been pushing the top teams very close this season. After a 15 point defeat at Amaroo in round 3 the Tigerettes will be looking forward to welcoming the Jets to Town Park, but will be mindful that it was at that venue last year that the Jets were able to post a very large win in what was the team’s worst performance of the second part of last season. The match starts at 10am on Sunday 10 July at Town Park, it would be great to see a big crowd come and cheer on the team.

Queanbeyan 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-2-(8) Eastlake 4-2 6-2 7-2 8-5-(53) Goals: Fran Langi Best: Dani Louis, Tegan Tisma, Lani Watson, Pip Butt, Bobbie Minniecon, Sarah Van Meurs, Tess Kolaric