The NT Thunder women’s team will be aiming to bounce back from its first loss of the VFL W season when it hosts Collingwood at TIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Thunder started the season with five straight victories, but recorded its first loss on the weekend, thanks to a strong performance by the Southern Saints.
As it bids to return to winning form, third placed Thunder will have to beat the Magpies, who are up one spot in second place.
Collingwood has 14 AFLW players it can choose from for this weekend’s match, but Thunder won’t have so many of its own Adelaide Crows-listed women be able to take to the field.
A directive from the VFL W mid-season will restrict the number of AFLW-listed players Thunder can field to eight.
The VFL W says Thunder can’t use more than four Adelaide-based players in the team, which means fewer of them will be on the field.
Adelaide Crows-listed and former GWS marquee player Renee Forth moved to Darwin to take up the chance to play with Thunder in the VFL W competition.
Her commitment to the game can’t be questioned, but she’d like to see women playing the game professionally in the future.
“The most annoying thing about being part-time is not being able to reach our full potential, and then also getting criticised (through the various media) about how we’re playing or what we’re delivering,” Forth said.
The on-baller said playing with Thunder meant plenty of challenges.
“It’s hard work doing the travel (down to Victoria) that we do,” Forth said. “We land at 11.40 on the Friday night and then we leave on Saturday and we don’t land in Darwin until 2 o’clock on a Sunday morning and depending on whether the plane has been delayed it can be later.
“It’s very taxing. We’ve had a couple of girls sick recently and I think it’s just from being overdone, but apart from that I think it’s very good.”
Forth said she’s certain Thunder can return to the winner’s circle on Saturday.
“The first positive is we’re home so we get to regroup, she said. “We’ll be fresh for the game and we said to the girls at the end of the match (last round) we didn’t have that extra resilience in the game. We didn’t bounce back as hard as we could have and should have, so, now, the challenge is to bounce back for this weekend. I think that we can do it.”
“We’re a very close group,” the qualified electrician said. “This weekend at home, we’re going to want the ball much more than them because we don’t want to lose at home.”
VFL W Round 8 – NT Thunder v Collingwood, 4 pm Saturday 30 June, TIO Stadium, Darwin.