The Gunnedah Poochettes had a strong start to their AFL North West (NSW) women’s season, as they recorded a landslide victory against the New England Nomads at the Armidale-based Bellevue Oval last Saturday.

The match was virtually one-way traffic, as the visitors kicked 23 goals and 17 behinds for a tally of 155 points while keeping the hosts scoreless.

Both teams had 15 players on the field while Gunnedah also had a couple of subs, as Audrey Hannaford and Casey O’Connell were unavailable.

After the Nomads forfeited at times last year due to limited player numbers, they were unable to field a team in round one this year due to university holidays before fielding a largely inexperienced line-up last Saturday.

Having had the bye in round one, the Poochettes landed four goals and four behinds in the first quarter before tallying six goals and two behinds in the second quarter.

The third term featured six goals and six behinds, before the final term yielded seven goals and five behinds.

Abbey Ruttley was the standout with 11 goals while Elyshia Beaumont, Amelia Woolaston, Jayla Woolaston, Macey Carlyon, Chelsea Palmer and captain Laura Ewington also kicked at least one major each.

Gunnedah’s coach John Woolaston said the Poochettes worked to their game plan, and saw an opening where they could bring a crumber to some contests.

Woolaston said he also shifted players around, “made some changes and we just had to adapt for those players who moved into those positions”.

“You could see it took one or two contests to work it out, gel again, and (we) managed to move the ball into our forward line,” he said.

Woolaston said it was pleasing to see the kicks go into the forward line, while Ruttley was able to “read the flight of the ball exceptionally well and take those marks in front of goal”.

Woolaston said the goals were well worked, as there “wasn’t just one standout here or there”.

“(The goals) came from good kicking into our forwards, or it was from good roving from those across our centre half or from the midfield running through, running that ball nicely and allowing space to actually have a shot at goal,” he said.

Gunnedah’s coach said he was impressed with Mea Woolaston and Corinne Wise, both of whom made their senior debut.

“(With regard to) Corinne, I was quite impressed with how well she moved with the flight of the ball, which is part of the reason why we add this sort of crumbing to our game plan,” John Woolaston said.

“Once she gets that positioning sort of stuff, she’s going to find herself getting a lot more ball.”

With Laura Ewington having the captaincy for the first time, Woolaston said “she led by example” while it was good to see “on-field coaching sort of stuff” from the senior players.

Following this weekend’s general bye, the Poochettes are set to host the Tamworth Swans on May 2.

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