Recap

Dirty Reds Women show lots of ticker in loss to reigning premiers

By PETE OLIVER

It seems funny to talk up a team’s defence when they concede 22 unanswered points. But the Goulburn Dirty Reds Women showed plenty of ticker against the reigning premiers and competition leaders to limit them to four tries.

Indeed, the score could have been a lot closer if it wasn’t for a late runaway try from some individual brilliance by the Owls to blow the score out.

The attitude and effort from the Reds was a million miles better than last week. With the rust blown out following the long gap without matches, there was a noticeable lift in intensity, particularly in defence when they repelled a number of Owls’ raids on the line.

With one of the shorter benches they’ve had all year, a number of the forwards played the full game; quite an effort in the deceptively warm conditions. Despite this, the willingness to put in the work was there across the board.

The Owls showed why they’re the reigning premiers. Their set piece was superb, utterly dominating the Reds’ scrum in particular, and this stopped the home side from getting any real roll on from their feed.

However, the Reds women have continued to improve week by week, and have again shown they can more than match it around the park with the best sides in the Premier Division.

With more bodies at training, the Reds are a real chance to give the competition a shake up late in the season.

“There’s lots to work on, a lot to improve on,” Reds Coach Rob Sheekey told his charges after the game.

“But the potential is there if we get there and want to do the work.”

Uni Norths Owls 22 (Atkinson-Smith, Papalii, Afamasaga, Obst tries, Gogala conversion) bt Goulburn Dirty Reds Women 0. 

Best and fairest points:

3 – Chloe Waddell
2 – Amelia Vitek
1 – Sass Cudaj

Players Players:

Kelsey Betts & Chloe Waddell

Photos: PETE OLIVER.