WOORINEN’S youth girls have relished the opportunity to run out on a long-weekend morning, piling on the goals while holding their opponents to a single behind.
The under-18 girls claimed a 92-point win over last-placed Eaglehawk, to sit in fourth place on four wins and four losses halfway through the season.
The Tigers burst out of the gates from the opening siren at their home in Woorinen, kicking five goals in the opening term to blow their opponents out of the water.
“We’ve had a big focus on starting each game the best that we can,” coach James Downing said.
“Over our two-week break we had identified that our first quarters hadn’t been setting us up to succeed, we’d sort of got ourselves behind the eight-ball early.
“We put it to the girls to set up the game the way we wanted it to be, and they responded really well.
“That really allowed us to throw the magnets around a bit and get a few girls their first goals of the year and reward them for that effort.”
The young Tigers continued to pile on the attacking pressure to close out the first half, but wayward goalkicking saw them add another 2.6 before the major break.
Sunny Barry and Fallon Smits led the charge for the Tigers with three and two-goal hauls respectively, with another seven girls finishing the match with a goal to their names.
The pair, as well as Nevaeh Roberts, Grace Ayars, Chloe Lovell and first-gamer Ruby Butler were all impressive and named in the Tigers’ best players.
With nine matches remaining before the Central Victoria Football League’s finals campaign kicks off, the Tigers will be keen to keep hold of fourth spot and play finals.
Their next match will be a tough ask against undefeated ladder leaders White Hills, part of another home double-header with the senior women’s side.
Downing said it was “tough to get a read” on their round 10 opponents, who they faced in Bendigo with just 10 players earlier this season.
“When we went down there it was modified a bit numbers-wise, but we took some things away from there,” he said.
“We know White Hills have been the benchmark for the competition in the last couple of years, and it will be great to see them travel up the highway to Woorinen this weekend.
“The big thing for our girls has been their growth since the start of the year.
“We brought in 10 or 12 new girls who are gelling really well together.”
The senior team will be looking to return to the winners’ list this weekend after they narrowly fell to a similarly placed Eaglehawk side by just seven points.
The Tigers fought back hard in the second half following a slow start, but the third-placed Hawks were able to hold on to the important win away from home.
While Eaglehawk were able to put 31 points on the scoreboard up to half-time, Woorinen struggled to make their forays forward count and only kicked 1.1 before the break.
But from there the Tigers hit the ground running, adding another four goals to Eaglehawk’s two in the third quarter to bring the margin to just 14 points.
In a nail-biting final term, the Tigers were able to keep their opponents scoreless while they kicked 1.1, but it wasn’t enough to pinch a comeback win.
Tenay Fellows and Samantha Johnston both finished the game with two goals, with Fellows, Katelyn Hazlett, Brydi Lewis, Jenna Bannam, Tara Andrews and Rachael Booth named as the team’s best players.
The Tigers’ women will return to Woorinen this Saturday as they face a White Hills side they defeated by 210 points in their round 4 match.
