Whitehorse defeated West Preston-Lakeside by 26 points in the inaugural Northpark NFLW match on Saturday to be the first senior women’s team to add four points to their tally.
The first-ever match of the inaugural NFL senior women’s season was played in superb fashion at J.E Moore Park, with a big crowd in attendance.
Speaking after the win, Whitehorse coach Roy Fenton revealed how eager his team was to get out onto the field and get their first touches of the season.
“The girls were absolutely champing at the bit to get out there. They were keen as mustard to finally play,” Fenton told NFL.org.au.
Fenton was pleased with the many positives that the team can take away from the victory and was particularly heartened by the performance of his new players.
“We had eight or nine new players and couple of them had never played footy before but they all played well which was good.
“Amelia Finnegan has never played any ball sports before but she played a really good game and Danielle Brennan played her first game and she played great too.
“We have a couple of good stories in our team such as Brodie Watts who comes up from Lakes Entrance for matches and even makes it to at least one training session a week. She actually kicked two goals on the weekend and we were very happy.”
Fenton believes his team has a great spread of players and are even across the board.
“We have a good mix. We are trying to get a good group together and then form a strong team.
“We were able to move some players into different positions, which was good. A lot of players can play either back or forward.
“It was Claire Dyett’s first game and she can play back or forward and she did a very good job on the weekend.
“Lucy Watkin played a pretty good game and she played both on the ball and up forward.”
The game was a great contest and the spirit of the players from the two clubs both during and after the match impressed Fenton and his team.
“We were very impressed by West Preston-Lakeside, they were very hospitable. They are very good club,” Fenton said.
Whitehorse’s next match in NFLW Division 2 competition is against Kew on Saturday April 22 and the Colts will take huge confidence from their Round 1 win.
Photo by Nathan McNeil
