by Daniel Viles
Bond March On to New Century
Bond University has celebrated its 100th match in the Bond University QAFLW with a 22-point victory over Coorparoo, its first over Coorparoo in fourteen months.
The Bull Sharks’ made an early charge towards their 70th state league victory with three goals in six minutes either side of the quarter-time break to race to a 25-nil lead.
The Kings, to their credit, won the second half 3.2 to 2.5 but struggled for large parts of the match to clear the ball beyond the Bond defence camped between the 50-metre arc and halfway.
Bull Sharks midfielder Mia Salisbury has been in superb form throughout June and her ability to win the ball (7 clearances), especially from the tap rucks of Havana Harris, and then accurately distribute it (24 disposals at 87.5%) kept the premiers moving forward all night.
It was Harris who broke the game open early, firstly by dominating the rucks, then by switching to full-forward in the seventh minute and, with her first touch, marking 15 metres from goal from a Courtney Sexton pass on the arc. Her set shot gave the visitors an early lead.
It took the Kings eleven minutes to get inside forward 50, that coming from a movement in which the evergreen Emma Zielke handled three times. Most of Coorparoo’s transitions from defence to attack came via Zielke whose ability to receive the ball and dispose of it almost in the one motion was regularly on display.
Bond’s defence held firm with centre halfback Jasmyn Davidson (11 tackles, 3 intercept marks) again the most prominent, although the constant pressure acts of Grace Moodie and Evy Reeves, plus the marking of Ella Calleja who regularly dropped back as a sixth defender, were equally important, especially once Paris Lightfoot was forced out of the game with injury at halftime.
Leah Kaslar, a defender for large parts of her career, finished off a Bull Sharks counterattack in the 15th minute when she won a free kick for hands in the back and converted the shot from the right with ease.
A minute before the break, Harris capitalised on a long period inside Coorparoo’s defensive zone by winning a ball-up in the goal square and then swivel-snapping to score.
The Bull Sharks took just 34 seconds of the second quarter to extend their lead, Calleja kicking over the defence to allow Maisy Evans to run into an open goal.
Evans would have two more attacking opportunities in the quarter but each were foiled by defender Alana Mitchell, the first with clever use of the body to gain front position in a contest and win a free kick, the second with a fearless charge-down. Mitchell’s assured performance also demonstrated that she’d learned a thing or two about intercept marking from her captain, Ajla Fetahagic, whose four for the match maintained her competition lead in that statistic.
The hosts’ first goal came seven minutes into the second half when Grace Roberts-White, probably overshadowed by Salisbury in the middle of the field but routinely dangerous when pushing forward, intercept marked a clearing kick on the 50 but was then advanced to the square when the outer zone umpire spotted illegal contact off the ball.
Three minutes hence, Bevan missed an opportunity to restore Bond’s lead when her shot from close range collected a shoulder on the way through, but made the most of her next opportunity when she marked in front of goal from Bella Iverach, her accurate pass following a tackle-evading run on the right pocket boundary.
Emily Harding kept the Kings in touch with a set shot from 30 metres after Lucy Schneider had collected a poor defensive clearance and found her unmarked.
The quarter ended in ugly fashion, tempers fraying after Bond scored from a 50-metre penalty to increase their lead to 26 points. The remainder of the game contained some tense moments but the post-match handshakes appeared genuine.
Roberts-White scored the night’s final goal when she crumbed near the goal square. Thereafter, Bond kept the ball inside Coorparoo’s 50 until the siren.
Elsewhere in Round 10: University of Queensland returned to winning ways with a 29-point win over Wilston Grange but not before the Gorillas’ Keyshia Matenga scored her first Bond University QAFLW goal in her 75th match; Maroochydore completed three consecutive wins for the first time in two years with a 51-point defeat of Yeronga; and Southport’s four-goal first-quarter blitz set up a 27-point win over Aspley, thus extending its own winning streak to seven while ending the Hornets’ at nine.
Saturday 29 June 2024, 4:45pm at Giffin Park, Coorparoo
COORPAROO 0.0 (0) 0.1 (1) 2.1 (13) 3.2 (20)
BOND UNIVERSITY 3.1 (19) 4.1 (25) 6.3 (39) 6.6 (42)
Replay and match statistics
Coorparoo
Goals: Grace Roberts-White 2, Emily Harding
Best: Grace Roberts-White, Emma Zielke, Ajla Fetahagic, Lucy Schneider, Chelsea Chesterfield, Mia Teubler
Bond University
Goals: Havana Harris 2, Leah Kaslar, Maisy Evans, Abbey Bevan, Shannon Nolan
Best: Mia Salisbury, Havana Harris, Courtney Sexton, Jasmyn Davidson, Nyalli Milne, Tahlia Meyer
Saturday 29 June 2024, 10:45am at Hickey Park, Stafford
WILSTON GRANGE 1.1 (7) 1.3 (9) 2.5 (17) 2.6 (18)
UNIVERSITY OF QLD 2.3 (15) 4.3 (27) 5.3 (33) 7.5 (47)
Replay and match statistics
Wilston Grange
Goals: Keyshia Matenga, Naomi Celebre
Best: Hayley Finning, Taneka Dhadlie, Keyshia Matenga, Jasmine Ware, Zimra Hussain, Jasmin Rivers
University of Queensland
Goals: Ashleigh Moyle 2, Jane Childes, Harriet Knijff, Monique Piunti, Laura Roy, Coco Garton
Best: Laura Roy, Gabi Simpson, Lara Mason, Ashleigh Moyle, Josii Hargreaves, Jessi Henning
Saturday 29 June 2024, 2pm at Fankhauser Reserve, Southport
SOUTHPORT 4.2 (26) 6.4 (40) 7.5 (47) 8.5 (53)
ASPLEY 0.1 (1) 1.3 (9) 3.6 (24) 3.8 (26)
Replay and match statistics
Southport
Goals: Megan Hunt, Kierra Zerafa, Dekota Baron, Sunny Lappin, Rianna Schipp, Tearnie Brown, Maddy Watt, Tayla Gregory
Best: Kierra Zerafa, Emma Suckling, Maddy Watt, Georja Davies, Tearnie Brown, Jo Baltais
Aspley
Goals: Jess Stallard 3
Best: Tiarna Ernst, Emma Pittman, Anna van de Wiel, Holly O’Flaherty, Jess Stallard, Lucy Pengelly
Saturday 29 June 2024, 2pm at Leyshon Park, Yeronga
YERONGA SOUTH BRISBANE 2.2 (14) 2.4 (16) 2.4 (16) 2.4 (16)
MAROOCHYDORE 2.1 (13) 6.5 (41) 8.5 (53) 10.7 (67)
Replay and match statistics
Yeronga South Brisbane
Goals: Farradai Hopkins 2
Best: Peppa Poultney, Jamie Howell, Lizzie Hill, Madi Goodwin, Sienna Wilson, Farradai Hopkins
Maroochydore
Goals: Ellen Hopkins 4, Lataya De Pauw 2, Marlee Marshall, Abbey Rankin, Jesse McMillan, Kaiya Hides
Best: Poppy Tindal, Axel Oswald, Abbey Rankin, Abbey Tognazzini, Jesse McMillan, Sara-Jane O’Grady
Table: Aspley 36, Southport 32, Bond University 28, Coorparoo 20,
Maroochydore 16, Wilston Grange 16, University of Queensland 12, Yeronga South Brisbane 0.
Find all your information about the Bond University QAFLW at the Competition Hub.
