It was a weekend where all five Penrith sides travelled far and wide to play their Round 4 matches in the 2013 Sydney AFL season (Round 3 for the Ramettes), from Auburn to Kensington, Greystanes to Warwick Farm and Croydon Park. Well done to all the players, officials, support staff and supporters who made the various journeys.
And it was the Ramettes who took the honours, recording the club's only win on the day among the various grades, a fighting, tough 7 point win over Auburn on that club's home turf at Mona Park. In other games:
*Senior Grade (Div 1) lost a nail biter by 3 points. Trailing UNSW/ES all day, and by five goals at the final change, they staged a storming comeback to fall just short.
*Reserve Grade (Div 3) had a day they would probably prefer to forget, never being in the hunt against Western Suburbs after an even first quarter.
*Third Grade (Div 5) would have been hoping for their first win, but instead got jumped early and never recovered, falling to a disappointing 60 point loss.
*The Under 18s finally, finally got onto the field after numerous setbacks and understandably took time to find their feet. But coach Rick Allen found plenty to be happy about, despite the final 30 point losing margin.
Results and Match Reports - All games played Saturday 27th April
Ramettes - Sydney Womens' AFL - At Mona Park
Penrith 6.9 (45) d Auburn 5.8 (38)
Goal Kickers: K. Jones, J. Payne, A. Grosas , R. Vance, L Hazell, J Burnham
Best Players: A. Deighton, J. Vella, N. Perrett, K. Easthope, K. Jones, S. Kostic
Match Report (from the Sideline Guru)
The Ramettes came away from a physical encounter this week with their second win.It was a close game from start to finish, but the end result shows the team's growing maturity and increased skill level.
The deal made with Dubbo Demons for the transfer of first game player Lauren Hazell was well worth the million dollars. Lauren slotted into the team like she had been there all along.Lauren's apperance allowed Kayla to show a bit more around the ground. A strong performance by Steph Kostic, Nikki Perret and Kate Easthope in the midfield set up many a forward thrust and goal.
Some accurate kicking by Ashley Grosas, Katie Jones and Renae Vance saw the scoreboard constantly ticking over.
The Ramettes play the standout team of the Division this week which should allow them to gauge their improvement.
Senior Grade - Div 1 - At The Village Green
UNSW/ES 12.6 (78) d Penrith 11.9 (75)
Goal Kickers: T. Cummins 2, J. Devlin 2, J. Shephard 2, M. Denton 2, J. Edwards , D. Bradley , B. McGovern
Best Players: L. Jones, J. Edwards, J. Ponton, J. Shephard, T. Cummins, A. Sharp
Match report not received, brief summary of match:
Uni of NSW and Penrith both came into the match at the picturesque Village Green on a win apiece and looking to record a win to consolidate their postion on the ladder.
Uni looked the better side early, but accurate Rams kicking kept them in the game. The second and third quarter saw the home side take charge over a stagnant Rams outfit, who couldn't get the ball to their forwards with any conviction. The deficit for the Rams was 19 points at half-time and blew out to a serious 5 straight goals at the final break. And the Rams didn't seem to be playing well enough to turn things around.
But how wrong that proved to be. The Rams hit their straps in the final term, booting four goals and then a fifth to draw level with Uni. A tense final period then ensued, where Uni bagged a vital goal with the Rams only being able to register minor scores. The siren went with the Rams within a kick, only 3 points down, in a game they nearly stole without ever really looking like winning it all day.
Youngster Luke Jones took the honors for Penrith, with the ever-reliable Jay Edwards and new recruit Josh Shephard not far behind. Returning players Jack Ponton and Tim Cummins rounded out the best players.
Reserve Grade - Div 3 - At Picken Oval
Western Suburbs 12.9 (81) d Penrith 5.7 (37)
Goal Kickers: C. Withers 2, J. Keane , K. Churchill , H. Doyle
Best Players: C. Triffitt, J. Keane, C. Withers, B. Roney, E. Kirby, B. Redfern
Match Report (courtesy "The Man On The Spot")
The Penrith Rams Division 3 team travelled to Picken Oval for a match against Western Suburbs. Our team was short a number of our regular tall forwards so scoring was going to be the area that required the most work.
In the first quarter Western Suburbs dominated for the first fifteen minutes but were only able to score the one goal. Then against the run of play the ball pushed forward and Harry Doyle was able to goal. During this quarter we lost both Cam Butler and Ben Priest to injury and neither would return to the field of play leaving us with a small bench on a very warm day. Without much of the play the Rams were only two points down at quarter time.
The second quarter saw the Magpies continue to dominate the play with a couple of quick goals. Thanks to the Rams backline of Keane, Redfern, Cummins and Triffitt stopping the flow of ball the scoring was restricted and late in the quarter Withers took his opportunity and slotted a goal. Half time score was WS 6.6 to Rams 2.2.
The third quarter saw the Rams players come into their own and the faster smaller players became more effective and the Western Suburbs bigger men slowing down. Roney was marking anything that came into the backline and while we had the greater share of the ball our poor delivery regularly saw attacks turn into defence on multiple turnovers. We outscored WS by 2 points and went into the last quarter only four goals down and with the momentum
The final quarter started with WS kicking a couple of quick goals and the Rams run slowed down. A send off left the team one short on the field and still only two interchange started taking its toll. The strong backline continued to fight hard but with turnovers aplenty they couldn’t stem the tide. As the game drew to a close goals to Withers and Churchill made the score more respectable.
Final Score: Western Suburbs 12.9.81 to Penrith 5.7.37
After the game Coach Michael identified that the team’s effort would have been sufficient to be competitive last year in Div 4 but the need to step up the extra fitness and pace is not there yet.
Best for the Rams Triffitt, Keane, Withers, Roney, Kirby, Redfern, Doyle, Manuel
Goal kickers: Withers 2, Doyle Keane and Churchill 1
Third Grade - Div 5 - At Gipps Road Oval
Holroyd-Parramatta 14.18 (102) d Penrith 5.12 (42)
Goal Kickers: A. Cook 2, J. Makin , J. Edwards , D. Fysh
Best Players: M. Pope, D. Fysh, J. Masters, S. Scott, S. Simington, C. Knight
Match Report (courtesy of the mysterious "Anonymouse")
The Penrith Rams Division 5 team travelled to Gipps Road Oval confident of taking their first win of the season against Holroyd Parramatta. Coach John Rix had the team fired up before the game with a passionate speech asking the boys to evoke the spirit of the Anzacs and play with plenty of fight and determination.
However this wasn’t taken out onto the field and the Goannas scored the first 5 goals of the game in quick succession. Penrith were able to strike back with one goal before the quarter time break.
After a rev up from the coach the boys showed more fight in the second term. A highlight was a three bounce run up the wing from new recruit Dane Fysh who showed his skills are rapidly improving every week. A couple of second quarter majors saw the Rams go in at halftime still within striking distance of the Goannas.
Unfortunately the Rams were unable to add another goal in the third quarter and only kicked two in the last to go down by 60 points but put up a strong fight and were far from disgraced. Once again it looked as though they had fallen victim to a team who was able to field a stronger side due to a bye in another division. Aiden Cook kicked two goals in his first game back since 2010 and Marty Pope was a standout for the second week in a row racking up a lot of possessions out on the wing.
After the game John once again spoke to his troops about the importance of fitness and getting to training. Taking this on board should see the team victorious in the next few rounds.
Under 18s - U18 Div 2 - At Rosedale Park
Moorebank 8.8 (56) d Penrith 3.8 (26)
Goal Kickers: J. Field 2, J. Monks
Best Players: S. Ashman, J. Watts, J. Monks, A. Quicke, Z.Pianta, A. Leech
Match Report (straight from the Coach's mouth):
It had been a frustrating start to the season with a first up bye followed by a forfeit and then a washout but finally the under 18s commenced their season with a round 4 away game against Moorebank at Rosedale Park.
In very hot conditions it was Moorebank who jumped out of the blocks early to dominate the opening quarter booting 5.1 to our solitary behind. We made a number of positional changes at quarter time and slowly began working our way back into the contest.
The second quarter was a defensive battle with no goals scored by either side. The young Rams showing great spirit to put a stop to Moorebanks dominance winning the quarter 3 points to Moorebanks 2.
Moorebank came out fired up in the third quarter starting well before the Rams again tightened the screws. The young Rams began to regularly send the ball inside attacking 50 but without a key marking target the ball was rebounding out as quickly as it went in. The quarter was won by Moorebank 2 goals 1behind to the Rams 1 behind.
The three quarter time score was Moorebank 7 – 6 - 48 to the Rams 0 – 4 - 4 and with pride on the line the Rams lifted their work rate and began to play a better brand of attacking football. Young 15 year old U/16 Blue Mountains ruckman James Monks on debut for the RAMS goaled early from a long set shot which seemed to spark the young Rams into action. Suddenly we were bringing the ball to ground inside forward 50 through strong contests and our crumbers began to work themselves into the game. The Rams winning the final quarter 3 goals 4 behinds to Moorebanks 1 goal 2 behinds to make the final score far more respectable and a fairer reflection of the endeavor and spirit displayed by the team on the day.
Shaun Ashman was outstanding after moving into the midfield at quarter time and was a catalyst for the Rams fight back. Jeromy Watts was second best afield putting in a brilliant display at full back. Young ruckman James Monks who having played only a handful of AFL games dominated the hitouts , and scored our first goal to show he has the potential to develop into a very special player if he continues to work hard on his game. Aidan Quicke was thrown around in a number of positions and was very competitive all game whilst Captain Anthony Leech and Zac Pianta were strong across half back with Zac putting on a monster tackle in the third quarter setting a great example for his team mates. Jacob Field was a live wire in the last quarter booting 2 goals and young Penrith Swans U/16 player Eddy Steffen was also a shining light in the forward line showing great maturity to provide a leading target across half forward on a number of occasions and applying tremendous pressure to the opposition.
I would just like to thank those parents and siblings who volunteered on the day to help out with umpiring, running and water carrying duties – and make particular mention of young ST Clair Crow’s U/16 player Jared Ryan who had been named as emergency and turned up to carry water for the team – a tremendous example of commitment – thank you Jared.
We will be looking for a consistent four quarter effort from the boys next week and if they can use that last quarter against Moorebank as a benchmark then I’m sure we will see big improvements in the coming weeks.
I was very very proud of the team’s fight back. It would have been very easy for a weak side to drop their heads at any stage in those first 3 quarters but that is not the way this group of players roll – to their credit they responded in the right way – well done boys!
Last Modified on 12/05/2013 20:37