Saturday 8th May 2021
Box Hill City Oval
Darebin Falcons 1.1-7 def by Hawthorn 10.9-69
Photos by @Rob Lawson Photography
In a second battle of the big birds for the 2021 VFLW season, Darebin Falcons went down to the Hawks. Both clubs have experienced the arrival of some great AFLW talent in the last few weeks, with Jess Dal Pos and Annalyse Lister returning to the Falcons nest, and Alison Drennan, Mikayla Morrison, Katelyn Cox, Tamara Luke, Nadia Von Bertouch, Phoebe McWilliams among the returning AFLW players in the Hawthorn team.
Melbourne turned on a great footy day, with bright sun and lush green grass. The first quarter showed some great intensity but some nerves showing for a game that was important for both teams. Late in the first quarter, a superb defensive effort deep in the Hawks territory by Kathleen Roe set off a lovely passage of play with the Falcons showing some good timing and hard running. The ball was sent in to a leading Hayley Munro, who marked strongly, went back and kicked what turned out to be the only Darebin goal for the day. Unable to put any scoreboard pressure for the further 3 quarters, it was the Hawks who ran out winners on the day.
After the arm wrestle in the first quarter, Falcons continued with some good defensive work, and but often missed chances to clear the ball out of the attack, or to send the ball deeper into our own forwards. It was a performance that was missing the confidence and positivity that have been in our game throughout this season, which resulted in many forays missing touch or accuracy to be effective.
The Falcons supporters will be looking forward to next week to see the response from the squad, and will be cheering on from the sidelines for their spirit, contest and tenacity which has been on display each week. With 4 weeks left in the competition, there is still a lot that can be gained out of this year’s campaign.
Next game: Saturday 15 May, 11am, Downer Oval, Darebin v Williamstown
DAREBIN
Goal Kickers: H. Munro
Best Players: K. Roe, G. Lawson-Tavan, V. Blackwood, A. Mifsud, A. Lister, S. David
Full match centre: SportsTG
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