VFLW Match Report – Round 4

VFLW Round 4 vs Essendon – Sunday 21st March

The Hangar, Essendon

Darebin Falcons 0.3.3 def by Essendon 10.10.70

Another rainy weekend in Melbourne and a tough one for the Darebin Falcons in Round 4.  Struggling with the intensity and pace of the opposition, the Falcons were on the back foot from the first ten minutes.  The opposition put on 7 goals in the first half, with the Falcon team struggling to get the ball into their own forward 50 with any accuracy.  Coming back after the half time break, the team dug deep, and started to run for each other, creating more forward pressure.  Despite only being able to add 3 behinds to the scoreboard, the Falcons played with more intensity, with more defensive pressure, and Essendon were only able to add 1 goal to their tally in the third quarter.  The last quarter was tightly contested but all too often in the opponents attacking end, with Essendon putting on another 2 goals, and Darebin unable to put the ball through their own sticks.

Coach Mitch Skelly was happy with the response from the second half, with a more composed effort from the team.  This early match up against Essendon was always going to be a tough game, but it was disappointing not to score.  The team showed a lot of resilience to improve on their first half’s performance, with a positive attitude in the group to lift the work rate rather than dropping our heads.  When the team was able to be a bit more rugged and determined, with some positive footy, the Falcons were able to match it more with the opposition.  Captain Steph Simpson was strong again around the field, providing leadership and support for the team.  Victoria Blackwood also had a great game in defence, repelling the attack time and time again, supported by Genevieve Lawson-Tavan, who also had one of her best performances for the club.

The highlights of this round were the 2 players on VFL debut- Julia McArdle and Alice Caddy.   Captaining the Falcon’s 2019 premiership team in the u18’s, Julia McArdle brings in the youthful energy, and from the NFNL Div 1 Falcs team, Alice Caddy showed some impressive speed in her debut game.  Bursting away from her opponent, Caddy was named in the best for the game.  Falcons supporters will be keeping an eye on them both, and looking forward to what our young players can bring to the season.  

This round set the Falcons some clear goals for training, in terms of fitness and game awareness.  It will our chance to work over the next few months, and our chance to come up again and have a more competitive match against this side.

DAREBIN

Best Players: V. Blackwood, S. Simpson, G. Lawson-Tavan, E. Buckley, A. Caddy, V. Smiljanic

Full match centre:  SportsTG