SANFL replays: North Adelaide v Glenelg league, Central District v West Adelaide women

Catch all action from our SANFL double-header here in the full match replays of North Adelaide’s league clash with Glenelg and West Adelaide’s women’s encounter with Central District.

Daniela Abbracciavento

@Dani_Abbra4

3 min read

May 1, 2021 - 6:44PM

The Messenger

Central District captain Shelby Smith will hope to ignite the Bulldogs’ finals charge in their live streamed clash with West Adelaide. Picture: Supplied, Hannah Howard

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The belief is now there, so is the enjoyment and the wins are stacking up.

Central District is in its third SANFLW season, challenging for a top-four finish and an inaugural finals appearance.

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It is a far cry from where the Bulldogs women started during their first campaign in 2019, finishing second-bottom with a 2-8 record and even a long way from where they finished last year’s COVID-19-affected campaign – last placed with a 2-8 record.

Ahead of the Bulldogs’ round nine clash with West Adelaide, which will be live streamed on advertiser.com.au this Saturday, the side is sitting fourth with a 4-4 record and eight points – one in front of fifth-placed South Adelaide.

Captain Shelby Smith, who is the daughter of ex-Central skipper Greg Smith, said it had taken plenty of hard work, persistence and trust in the game plan but the side was starting to reap the benefits.

“This year I feel like we’ve got a really good group of girls and the bond that we’ve made around the club and in the group is really strong,” Smith said.

“I think that’s a really big part of our success this year.

“We are starting to really trust our structures and what we are putting in place.

“We’ve made it a focus to trust the journey and enjoy it.

“Last year we probably didn’t believe we were there but after we won a game this year we all started to believe in each other and realise we can win all these games and we can be in the top half of the ladder.”

Coach Shaun Ribbons has been at the helm since that first season and has enjoyed watching the players grow both on and off the field.

“We went about building a bit of a brand just to be a good, hard, contested team that stood for something,” Ribbons said.

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“We did a few different things, we had a come and try this year and we were able to unearth a bit of talent from our area and they’ve been pretty important to us.

“But the biggest improvement has come from within.

“It’s their third season in, we took girls from playing nine a-side footy, some having not played much footy at all, to what’s supposed to be a semi-elite level and it’s a pretty big learning curve.”

Ribbons said it was important to keep morale up over the past two years to foster that belief among the players.

“It’s about highlighting the smaller wins.

“For example in our first year we were averaging 14 inside-50s and then in our second year, albeit we didn’t win many more games but we averaged 24 inside-50s.

Central District SANFLW coach Shaun Ribbons. Picture: Supplied, Hannah Howard

“Little things like that highlighted to the girls that things would start to fall in place.”

Among the Bulldogs’ wins this season was a 44-point victory over reigning premier North Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

It was also the first time SANFLW games had been played on the state’s prestigious oval.

“They were so pumped for it (the game at AO),” Ribbons said.

“Even just being able to be in the Crows home changeroom and use all their facilities was a great experience for the girls.

“It was a really good initiative from the SANFL to open up the stadium and have it accessible for anyone who wanted to watch and have all the (women’s) teams play there.

“If you’re a young girl and being able to see that pathway … is great.”

The Central District v West Adelaide match will be live streamed on advertiser.com.au this Saturday from 4.40pm.