Match Report
Round 12
Saturday 8 July 2023
AJAX v Glen Eira - Home
It was set to be a big game against our biggest rivals, Glen Eira, with club co-captain Annelise Caplan playing her 50th.
Glen Eira touched us up by 56 points only 6 weeks ago and were sitting comfortably in equal first place on the ladder. We had a good week on the track and were ready to give it everything.
Playing at home it was very windy and with rain threatening . We lost the toss and kicked against the breeze in the first. Glen Eira did most of the attacking as we tried to defend. Gabriel, Brophy and Gunn were standing tall in defence and it wasn’t until half way through the term that Glen Eira scored the first goal. We kept pressuring with A Caplan, Shustin and J Caplan pushing the ball forward. Goldberg took a great mark and just missed from a set shot, as we went 8 points down at quarter time.
Kicking with the breeze in the 2nd term we dominated play, but couldn’t score a major. Boylan was in everything as were Marget and Rainer. Nankin looked a threat but couldn’t capitalise and both Smythe and Goldman never stopped running. Mrocki and Riddle were both solid at half back. We could only manage 3 behinds whilst keeping Glen Eira scoreless in the quarter and went in 5 points down at the main break.
The 3rd quarter was set to be a big one as we had to give ourselves a chance going into the last. Rainer in only her 2nd full game of football ever was given the task of stopping one of Glen Eira’s best players and was doing an incredible job, as was Payne-Gill on their other best. That allowed us to win the quarter against the breeze. One of our young guns, Brooke Tuszynski kicked what could go down as the goal of the season. Using her body to edge her opponent under the ball, Brooke gathered, took 3 bounces into our open forward line and cleverly slotted the goal. We only conceded 2 points for the quarter and went into the last break 1 point down.
The girls could feel an upset on the cards. We knew we had only put ourselves in a good position to win and all the hard work had to be done. Glen Eira would not lay down and the scene was set for the last quarter. We attacked for the majority of the term with A Caplan leading the way in her 50th and together with sister J Caplan they were throwing themselves at everything. We were dominating play but could only score behinds. It wasn’t until Shustin kicked an excellent goal towards the end of the quarter that we felt the game was ours. 1 goal 4 to 0 in the last term lead us to a brilliant 9 point victory.
There are no games next week as we have a BYE.
Goals: Tuszynski, Shustin
Best: Payne-Gill, Rainey, J Caplan, Boylan, A Caplan, Shustin