Clarence captain Grace Mitchell back to lead Roos in TSLW blockbuster against Magpies at KGV

It’s tight at the top of the TSLW ladder so Roos premiership skipper Grace Mitchell says wins are worth their weight in gold.

TSLW Clarence captain Grace Mitchell ahead of the teams clash with rivals Glenorchy on the weekend. Picture: Zak Simmonds

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CLARENCE captain Grace Mitchell missed the first half of the TSLW season with a calf injury but she is back to lead the Roos into battle against Glenorchy at KGV on Saturday in a game critical to the Roos going for back-to-back premierships.

At the half-way mark of the women’s State League competition, Mitchell said it was crucial to get wins on the board with a cut-down finals series due to a coronavirus-shortened season.

“Clarence, Glenorchy and Launceston are all sitting on one loss so it’s a really tight race for that top spot,” Mitchell said.

“And being only one final before the grand final, it makes it critical to get as many wins as you can.”

As the defending champions, Mitchell said ideally the Roos would get to play for a second consecutive flag, but just playing at all, while football in some other states was shut down, was a privilege.

“This year has been so different so I’m just happy to be playing,” Mitchell said.

“So getting the chance to go back-to-back would be an absolute highlight.”

Clarence upset raging favourite Launceston win last year’s grand final in a thriller by three points.

Despite a loss to Launceston two weeks ago, Mitchell said the Roos had improved since then.

“We’ve definitely had a better start to this season that we had last year,” she said.

“We’ve kept the majority of our team and I think we’ve grown from our grand final and actually improved from that side to where it’s looking really good for us.

Launceston came off a loss to Glenorchy so they were raring to go to prove themselves and we didn’t play our best football that day.

“They were out to get us from the grand final.”

Glenorchy has also improved.

“We are pretty similar sides,” Mitchell said.

“They have got a lot of new girls who are quick, and they are not a tall side, like us, so it will a really close matchup and a really good game to watch.”