by Kyle Champion
In a twist of fate, the Darebin Falcons has survived a desperate NT Thunder at Preston City Oval. The final score saw Darebin 4.4 (28) defeat Thunder 3.4 (22).
At the sounding of the first siren, Darebin was on top of the contest. It had multiple entries inside its attacking half, but Thunder’s defence held strong. Sharona Bishop was an intercept marking machine in the backline early. Deni Varnhagen and Angela Foley were having a typical day at the office but no score was made for the entire first term.
In the second quarter, the ice broke. Elise O’Dea was first as a quick lead had her line up 25 metres out from goal. She made no mistake, but Thunder hit back hard. Eloise Jones managed to get out the back with an uncontested mark and drilled her first major from a slight angle.
Jones would strike again as Thunder pressure set her up for a quick snap around the corner for her second. Machaelia Roberts was starting to get in the game as she was busy up forward and the midfield. Thunder went into halftime with a handy eight-point buffer as the Falcons regrouped.
In the third term, Anne Hatchard had the ball on a string. The Crows champion was everywhere and Lateesha Jeffrey was playing like a quarterback in her defensive half. Janet Baird kicked the next goal for Thunder.
After catching her opponent cold, Baird ran into an open goal to extend Thunder’s lead. However, Darebin kicked into gear late as three unanswered goals had Thunder on the back foot and the Falcons in front.
The last term had danger signs written for Thunder. NT tried desperately to get back in the game as they peppered their forward line but failed to score.
In the dying minutes, only one goal was standing in the way of Thunder stealing the game. Unfortunately, the Falcons ran down the clock and took the win.
Assistant coach, fulfilling the head coach role this week, Ricky Nolan was not happy when his team went to sleep in the third quarter.
“Fifteen minutes into the third quarter Janet Baird laid a great tackle and kicked a terrific goal and the game’s nearly over,” Nolan said. “Then we went to sleep for five minutes and let them kick three unanswered goals. From there they just went into complete stoppage mode and we were unable to score against them.”
Five minutes was all it took to turn the game on its head as Nolan believes the loss will hurt Thunder’s chances to play finals.
“We took our foot off the pedal,” Nolan said. “Even though we were in a good position to win that game. We played a really bad five minutes of footy. This will hurt us. Losing this game will hurt us, it’s not a game we should’ve dropped.”
Thunder will meet the Casey Demons in Alice Springs next week in what could be a make or break game for NT.
Darebin: 0.0 I 1.0 I 4.2 I 4.4 (28)
NT Thunder: 0.0 I 2.2 I 3.4 I 3.4 (22)
GOALS
NT Thunder: Eloise Jones 2, Janet Baird
Darebin: Elise O’Dea, Lauren Pearce, Lauren Szigeti, Maddison Wilson
BEST
NT Thunder: Gemma Cusack, Anne Hatchard, Angela Foley, Sharona Bishop, Deni Varnhagen, Sophie Armitstead.
Darebin: Lauren Pearce, Elise O’Dea, Gabriel Colvin, Annalyse Lister, Genevieve Lawson-Tavan, Bridie Kennedy