Tara Murray
Greenvale was able to hold strong to win through to its first Essendon District Football League women’s grand final.
The Jets, who have had a senior women’s side since 2019, have improved each season and finished the division 1 season on top of the ladder this year.
On Saturday, the Jets strong first half against Strathmore was the key to their 6.4 (40)-3.5 (23) semi final win.
Jets coach Troy Newton said he was thrilled for the playing group to have made it through to the final day of the year.
“It’s pretty good,” he said. “I’m really happy for the girls, they’ve worked really hard all year.
“It’s good to see them get the opportunity to get the ultimate reward.
“It’s just reward for the players and now we go in two weeks time, full of confidence and 50 per cent chance of getting a premiership.”
Newton said they were happy with the first part of the game, when they kicked five of their six goals.
The Jets looked dangerous going forward with Alisa Magri and Alex Quigley providing targets.
The Mores then started to get into the game and the second half was an arm wrestle.
Newton said they were composed when they needed to be.
“We were really, really good for a quarter and half, then Strathmore, like good teams, they came at it pretty hard,” he said.
“We had to defend for long periods of time. It starts getting a big nervy and you just have to trust that the players will do the right things at the right times,
“They have all year and I was confident we had the defence that could defend for periods of time and they did.
“Two and a half goals in the end, we’ll take that. Finals are very tough to win.”
Newton said some of their more experienced players stood up in important periods of time, putting themselves in good spots and were able to take the sting out of the ball when they needed to.
He said the whole playing group would learn from the win and get an understanding of how hard it is to win a finals game..
Overall, he was impressed by the spread of players.
“I was impressed with Zoe’s [Hardiman] off half back and through the mid, Kiara Delia got plenty of the ball and Amy Hakim looked good.
“I thought Quigs and Magri both worked really hard, I’m not sure if they kicked goals or how many, but their effort throughout was crucial for us.”
With a couple of sore bodies including one player with concussion, the week off will be handy for the Jets.
Newton said they would look to recover early in the week before training and watching the preliminary final.
He said would try and enjoy the lead up to the grand final.
In premier division, Westmeadows kept its premiership hopes alive with an 5.7 (37)1.7 (13) win against Aberfeldie.
The Tigers will face Oak Park in the preliminary final, after the Kangaroos lost to Keilor.
In division 2, Tullamarine is through to the grand final after beating Airport West, 6.5 (41)-4.2 (26).
