IN front of a packed house at Freeling Oval on Sunday, Willaston, Angaston and Barossa District all capped off perfect, undefeated seasons in the Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association’s women’s seniors, under-17s and under-14s respectively.
In the seniors, playing against Tanunda, Donnybrook Bonnie Holdsworth opened the scoring in the first quarter after a good mark on the lead, and a superb finish into the teeth of the breeze from 35-out on a slight angle.
Right from the word go Willaston impressed with its manic pressure in the midfield, led by young Dakota Williams who was completely unmatched in this department. Williams laid a number of tackles deep in defence for holding-the-ball calls to prevent real scoring opportunities.
Also in the back-half, Willaston’s Lauren Smith – who is arguably the best player in the competition – was absolutely electric.
Her run and bounce off the back-flank, and ability to completely block off any exit-lanes for the Tanunda defence made her invaluable.
The second quarter was the most competitive of the day, with Holdsworth popping up again with a contested mark in the middle of a pack, before putting through a tough set-shot with her trusty left peg.
Magpie Katja Boese responded for Tanunda’s first goal after getting on the end of a squaring ball after her teammate won a good holding-the-ball free kick inside 50 to head into halftime down 1.3 (9) to 2.3 (15).
Things got hot in the third quarter as a big scuffle caused a minor stoppage in play while things were separated, and once things were back under control, Smith and Natasha Farrier took over the game for Willaston.
Donnybrook Jessie Sandford laid a tremendous tackle on the wing to nail a Tanunda counter-attack, before Mia Nolan-Grigg got her name on the scoresheet as Willaston pulled away.
The fourth quarter was one way traffic as Willaston broke Tanunda’s spirit with incredible work-rate and desire, leading to a final score of 5.7 (37) to 1.3 (9) with Farrier being named best-on-ground.
During the medal presentation, Tanunda’s Keely Cannizzaro was named league best-and-fairest.
In the under-17s, Angaston was never threatened on its way to a 4.3 (27) to 0.2 (2) win against Willaston.
Panther Libby Fiebiger was named best-on-ground, and along with her premiership medal, claimed a third piece of silverware with the league’s best-and-fairest.
In the under-14s, Barossa District went into halftime against Kapunda up 4.6 (30) to zero in a dominating effort.
The game finished in a 7.7 (49) to 3.1 (19) Bulldogs win, led by Amalee Struck’s bag of five goals, bringing her tally from just the past four games to 25 goals.