Poochettes pounce on Tamworth Roos

The Gunnedah Poochettes overcame some injury troubles as they kept the Tamworth Kangaroos goalless in last Saturday’s North West AFL women’s match at Tamworth No. 1 Oval.

Gunnedah maintained second place on the points table with its fourth win on the trot while the Kangaroos stayed third, but the gulf between the two teams was apparent as the visitors scored 8.10.58 and conceded a solitary behind.

The outcome was more decisive than when the teams met at the same venue back in round two, when the result was 7.3.45 to 3.1.19 in Gunnedah’s favour.

The John Woolaston-coached Poochettes landed two goals and three behinds in the first term, and then two goals and two behinds in the second term which also featured the home side’s only point.

Gunnedah scored only one behind in the third term, before kicking 4.4.28 in the final term.

Zoe Palmer and Audrey Hannaford nabbed two goals apiece while Myah Gibson, Chelsea Palmer, Elyshia Beaumont and skipper Alexa Walker landed singles.

Arlie Torrens, Charlotte Renshaw and Amy Clark exited the game early, with Torrens sustaining suspected concussion and Renshaw suffering an ankle injury while Clark dislocated a finger.

Woolaston said despite the mishaps, the Poochettes displayed a lot of skills and teamwork and “seemed to make things work, and capitalised on our forward 50 entries”.

“We’ve been playing a good style of footy with the game plan,” he said.

Woolaston said a dominant first quarter from the Poochettes really set things up, as five scoring shots in this period “sort of set the tone for how they moved about”.

“Come the last quarter it was just the drive, wanting to keep the ball in our forward line,” he said.

“With key players missing, we had a lot of inexperience up forward, so there was a lot of intercept marks from the Roos, counterattack back and forward.

“It was good for our midfield to get the ball in there setting up, (and it) really helped how we’re going to play next weekend.”

Gunnedah’s next outing is a home clash with arch-rival the Inverell Saints this Saturday, with the Saints unbeaten so far this year.

The Saints downed the Poochettes by 10 points on Inverell soil as Gunnedah fielded a depleted team back in round one, with Woolaston hopeful of good player numbers this Saturday despite a few injuries requiring attention.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Woolaston said of the impending top-of-the-table clash.