Waratah retains its women’s NTFL crown with a three-goal win over Districts in the grand final

WARATAH won its eighth Women’s Premier League flag last night when it held off a gutsy Southern Districts by 18 points in the grand final.

Waratah players are jubilant after winning their eighth Women’s Premier League flag at TIO Stadium last night. Picture: Glenn Campbell

WARATAH won its eighth Women’s Premier League flag last night when it held off a gutsy Southern Districts by 18 points in the grand final.

The red and whites only kicked three goals, but it was enough to beat first timers Districts, who could not break down the tight Waratah defence.

“We got a great start, but it really was an arm wrestle after that,’’ Tahs coach Colleen Gwynne said.

“Credit to Districts, they put a lot of pressure on the girls and we made a lot of unforced errors.

“Once the rain came in it was just a matter of holding on and getting the ball forward.’’

Waratah dominated the first 10 minutes with several entries into the forward 50.

But goals were hard to come by as a desperate Districts defence worked hard to minimise the damage on the scoreboard.

Tahs did break through for the first goal when a set shot from Sue Nalder went through, Jade de Melo repeating the dose to give her side a 12-point break at quarter time.

The second quarter went much the same way when only three behinds were kicked, two to Tahs and one to Districts as both sides played accountable football.

Sharona Bishop down back, Alicia Stanley and Alysha Healy around the ball were prominent for Tahs, while Tayla Thorn was unstoppable in a similar role for the Crocodiles and Indy Sleeth inspiration in the ruck.

A thunderstorm that had been threatening late in the second quarter hit the ground just before the halftime break, bringing with it heavy rain and strong winds.

That weather persisted until six minute into the third quarter when league officials called a halt to proceedings with lightning also threatening.

The mandatory 30 minutes to assess the weather only lasted for 15 before the match resumed.

But the rain had dumped a lot of water on the ground, bringing the bigger bodied players into the game.

Scoring became a tough assignment, let alone goal scoring. Maddy Gault’s snap right on the final siren the only major kicked in the last three quarters.

Districts coach Tarmon Elliott was left disappointed but immensely proud of his players.

“At the end of the day they put in a tough four quarters, sadly the rain sort of rained on the parade when we were ready to have a big crack at them in the third quarter.’’

WARATAH 2.1 2.3 2.3 3.3 (21)

S’DISTRICTS 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 (3)

BEST — Waratah: L Roberts (Williams Medal) A Stanley S Bishop A Healy M Gault. Districts: I Sleeth B Clarke T Thorn E Miller R Bush.

GOALS — Waratah: S Nalder J de Melo M Gault. Districts: Nil.

Umpires: P Rawsthorne M Rawsthorne A Price-Quinter