Twelve months on and we found ourselves back in Jerilderie playing against Deniliquin in another qualifying final.
The wet and windy conditions weren’t ideal, and a slippery ball meant both sides had a bit of trouble playing their usual, fast-paced style of game and some passages of play were quite messy.
Deni had the lead from the get-go but we stayed within reach and made them work hard for every ball.
Reeny did everything she could to keep us in it, picking off balls and pulling in rebounds but unfortunately we didn’t transition well from one end to the other; we definitely had our chances and we walk away knowing that they’re a beatable team.
A comeback in the last quarter shows our team’s determination and “never give up” attitude, we just left our run a little too late.
Disappointing result but certainly no disappointment in one another.
We’ll regroup, focus on a few specific things at training this week and look forward to coming up against Tocumwal on Saturday in the semis.
Football
Reserves
Strathmerton vs Waaia - WON 12.8 80 - 6.10 46
The boys turned up at Berrigan Reserve to take on the reigning premiers. They knew they had to be switched on from the start and to their credit they were from the first bounce.
The guys stuck to their game-plans and roles they knew they had to do. They all pushed hard all day and now go into the preliminary final earning themselves a week off.
Goal-kickers:
J. Mckenzie, A. Wood, D. Allen, H. Wyatt, J. Stephens, H. Parsons, M. Obrien and Z. Bunge.
Best players:
J. Beer, J. McKenzie, H. Parsons, M. Peterson, M. Easden and M. Gledhill.
Seniors
Waaia vs Strathmerton - LOST 11.9 75 - 7.6 48
In the qualifying final we took on Waaia, knowing if we wanted to knock off last year’s premiers we had to be on early.
Unfortunately we let ourselves down in the first quarter, playing undisciplined football that Waaia were able to capitalise on.
After quarter-time we were able to get our hands on the ball but were wasteful with our forward-50 entries.
We fought out the game, but couldn't peg back the margin Waaia put on us in the first quarter.
We’ll lick our wounds and go again next week at Blighty.
Go Doggies.
Goals-kickers:
T. Looby 5, R. Sampson and B. Palmer.
Best players:
T. Stephens, S. Lewis, T. Looby and M.Ryan.
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