Leopold enlist Beyonce Palavi and Achel Yout as fill-in players, defeat Bell Park 38-35 in GFNL round 10
Leopold will eye off one of its biggest challengers in their hunt for a finals berth on Thursday. But after feeling the crunch of injury and unavailability this year, the Lions have landed some handy fill-ins this season.
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Leopold turned to two high-calibre reinforcements to help get over the first of two crucial clashes for the GFNL finals hopefuls.
City West Falcons young guns Achel Yout and Beyonce Palavi stepped up in the Lions’ narrow 38-35 win over Bell Park on Saturday, with the club faced with a quick turnaround for a round 11 clash against fellow top 5 challenger St Mary’s on Thursday night.
Both club’s A and B-grade fixtures will be played midweek instead of Saturday – 6pm for A-grade and 7.20pm for B-grade – due to a VNL double-header in Ballarat on Sunday featuring the likes of Geelong Cougars and City West Falcons.
And with just two points separating fifth-placed Leopold and St Mary’s in sixth, it looms as a must-win for both sides in their bid to get a griphold off the open fifth finals sport.
The Lions shrugged off another mid-table challenger in the Dragons on Saturday, pushing out to a six-goal lead by three quarter time before the Dragons tried to reel in the margin unsuccessfully in the final term.
First-year Leopold coach Kaela Hughes was pleased her squad continued to find a way to win in any circumstance, as the Lions feel the crunch of injuries and unavailability in recent months.
Goal shooter Natalie Heagney has missed the last two games after breaking her nose against Lara and will meet her ENT on Thursday about a possible return, while the Lions lost Olivia Muldoon earlier in the season to an ACL injury.
Meanwhile, midcourter Tessa Allen made her return from a five-week knee injury on Saturday to be in the Lions’ best, while Maggie Leahy and Breanna Heagney have also missed games this season.
Yout and Palavi are quality inclusions for the Lions, the club benefiting from their connection to Lions midcourter Amelia Holland, who plays with the duo at the Falcons.
It’s not the first time both have played in the GFNL, Yout last playing for St Albans in 2022 while Palavi lined up for Newtown & Chilwell, where her sister Uneeq also played.
For Yout, Saturday was her second game for Leopold after previously lining up against Grovedale a fortnight ago, while Palavi made her debut in green and gold, with Hughes expecting the duo may play most weeks in the run home despite being a week-to-week call.
Yout second game for Leopold – first lining up against Grovedale a fortnight ago, while Palavi’s firsts.
“We just don’t have the depth at the club – our C-graders have three injuries, our B-graders have injuries, so we had to look external for the first time, I think Leopold have really ever done it historically,” Hughes said.
“And we’re just lucky to have to that pulling power now with Mil in VNL that we were able to get some high calibre players.”
Hughes said the pair slotted in seamlessly on Saturday, Palavi shooting 20 goals at 74 per cent rotating between goal shooter and goal attack, while Yout was in the Lions’ best for her role in defence.
“Obviously (Palavi) coming in as a goaler is a bit trickier because you’ve got to build those connections with your attack,” Hughes said.
“But Achel in defence, she dominated, see ball, get ball sort of thing.”
After finishing sixth last year, the Lions are striving to push into finals contention under Hughes, with the former VFL midcourter pleased with the progress made in her first 10 games in charge despite the challenges.
“We’ve been thrown a lot of curveballs very early on – I only had one midcourter for four weeks, of my starting 10 players,” she said.
“But we’ve managed to week-by-week pull through and continue playing some good netball – and they’re just having fun and enjoying playing with one another and I think that’s what makes it successful in the end.”
Tigers, Hawks strike in Bellarine
Torquay has moved within striking distance of the Bellarine’s top 3 off the back of a dominant 67-44 win against Portarlington.
The Tigers pushed on in the third term of Saturday’s round 12 contest, turning a nine-goal lead into 19 by the final change, as Daisy O’Kane shot an incredible 54 goals at 84.4 per cent efficiency.
It moves the 8-4 Tigers within 1.56 per cent of third-place Queenscliff, the injury-hit Coutas suffering back-to-back losses in recent weeks, with another tough fixture against top 2 Geelong Amateur to come in round 13.
Meanwhile, Drysdale has kept itself in Bellarine finals contention with a rousing 17-goal win over Anglesea.
A week after knocking off the Coutas, the Hawks downed the Roos, 58-41, taking their record to 5-7, after previously losing to the Roos by one goal in round 1.
Just two games separate the Hawks and fifth-placed Newcomb – with both clubs to go head-to-head in round 13.
Hawks shooting pair Alyce Delaney (34 goals at 87.2 per cent) and Bree Call (24 at 85.7) dominated the circle against Anglesea, while playing coach Calsey Taylor, who missed several games with injury, returned for a quarter on Saturday.
Blues earn bragging rights in grand final rematch
Reigning GDFNL grand finalists Winchelsea has taken a small piece of revenge on longtime rivals East Geelong.
Supporters had to wait until round 11 for this year’s A-grade grand final rematch, with the Blues – last year’s runners-up – coming out on top against the reigning premiers in a low-scoring affair, 33-26.
Both sides struggled with accuracy under the ring, with Blues’ recruit Grace Pullen putting up a game-high 20 goals as her teammates offered up greater opportunity.
The win keeps the fourth-placed Blues two games clear inside the top 5, with a big match-up looming against fifth Inverleigh next round.
Meanwhile, Bell Post Hill celebrated its fourth win of the season, knocking off Bannockburn, 55-44 while ladder-leaders Thomson extended their unbeaten run to 11 with a nine-goal win over top 5 hopeful Werribee Centrals.
With a young Bannockburn plagued by inaccuracy, Bell Post Hill goaler Brigitte Ardossi stood tall with 26 goals at 86.67 per cent, while Thomson goal attack Emma Witham continued her strong season with 23 goals against the Centurions.
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