Match Reports

Jaguars Rookies on Summer Final March

09/03/2008

Well this has been the biggest summer season ever for Jags with 17 teams.

3 senior, 3 Inter, 5 Junior, 3 Sub Junior, 2 Primary and 1 Sub Primary.

The teams from Junior and down have been playing on Friday nights and the Inters and seniors have played on Tuesday nights.

Finals started last night with 3 Junior and 2 Sub Junior teams making the first elimination final round. Here the team which finishes 1st plays the team finishing 4th and 2nd plays 3rd. the losers are out, the winners go on to the Grand Final next Friday, 14th March.

With the temperature at 39C at 6pm, 36.3C at 7pm, the start of the early matches was delayed to 7.30 where the temp was a mild 34.5C! This had the later games starting at 8.30 where the temp had gone all the way down to 31.2C. The only concessions to the high temperatures were an additional drink break each quarter and the Juniors had the quarters reduced to 12 minutes (from 15).

The Junior ranks had total success with all 3 teams going through to the Grand Final week.

The second Jags Junior team played the season in Junior 3. The opposition was Garville. Shannon Elliot and Jo Kitching had a great game, ably supported by the other players. Jags started the last quarter 4 up but were pegged back to trail by 1 goal, 5 minutes into the quarter. The team showed how much they had learnt by regrouping to win the match by 1 goal.

The third Jags Junior team played the season in Junior 4. The fourth Junior team was moved up into Junior 4 after the 4th round. At the start of the season Junior 3 had 9 players. At 5pm on Friday they were down to 6 of their original players. 1 long term knee injury and 1 short term knee injury both suffered prior to the final minor round game. A broken wrist suffered on Friday playing soccer at school. Many phone calls later Bonnie Thwaites and Aanika Holder agreed to make themselves available to play.

Junior 3 played Western Jets. The match was a credit to all players. The new girls fitted in well and all players held their positions. The result was Jags 46 to Western Jets 25. Each player had moments of sheer brilliance and maintained momentum for the entire game.

Junior 4 played Garville. A fairly even game until the last quarter. Scores were level at quarter time, Jags were 6 up at half time. Until half time it was clear both teams nervous. Jags started to pull away in the 3rd quarter as the girls controlled their nerves and cemented the win in the last quarter. Final Scores Jags 32 to Garville 18. The entire team played well.

Next week sees Jags Junior 3 play Jags Junior 4 in the Grand Final. We can confidently predict that Jags will win the Junior 4 flag.

The Sub Junior teams both played well but were beaten on the night. Sub Junior 1 playing in Sub Junior 2 were opposed to Western Jets. All girls played their best and fought hard throughout the game. Final score was Western Jets 21 to Jags 17.

Sub Junior 2 played in Sub Junior 3 and were again opposed to Western Jets. This match was played starting at 7.30 so suffered the higher temperatures of the night. 2 of the girls had been on camp and just returned home on Friday, another 2 had sports day on Friday. Just what a coach likes to contend with for elimination final! Katie Schneider played well at GK and Hannah Kinsella came back well from 3 weeks off through injury. Dionne Jones played very well at WA. All players did their very best but unfortunately, in very difficult conditions, were defeated. Final score was Western Jets 22, Jags 14.

Next Tuesday, 11th March will see 2 of our Inter teams competing in the first round of finals. Inter 1, playing in Inter 2, finished top and Inter 3, playing in Inter 4 are playing the 2 v 3 elimination. Inter 2, playing in Inter 3, unfortunately missed out on a finals berth by 1 point. This team was the form side for the last half of the competition.

Unfortunately none of our senior sides qualified for the finals but they had a solid summer in preparation for the winter season.

Tuesday 11th March sees our Inters play in the first week elimination round. Matches will be at 7pm and 8.30. Grand Final round for Inters will be March 18th.

Friday 14th March will be Grand Final matches for our 3 Junior teams. These matches will be at 8pm. Don’t forget Junior 4 sees Jags play Jags.

All supporters will be most welcome next week. Come along and support our girls.