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Sport

14 August, 2023

Carisbrook Lady Redbacks in Ballarat women’s finals in return to competition

Carisbrook will be playing in the Ballarat Football League Women’s finals, capping off their first season back with a finals appearance. That result comes despite winning just one game during the home and away season, finishing sixth in the...

By Michael Thompson

Caitlin Butler prepares to handball out of the gathering pack for Carisbrook, who will be taking on Lake Wendouree in their first final next weekend. Photo: 150823 14
Caitlin Butler prepares to handball out of the gathering pack for Carisbrook, who will be taking on Lake Wendouree in their first final next weekend. Photo: 150823 14

Carisbrook will be playing in the Ballarat Football League Women’s finals, capping off their first season back with a finals appearance.

That result comes despite winning just one game during the home and away season, finishing sixth in the six-team competition.

Regardless of that, it’s been a massive season of growth for the team, whose improvement has been evident for large periods of the season.

While they have come up against the likes of league powerhouses Redan and Darley on frequent occasions during the season, the Lady Redbacks have held themselves to the highest regard in all of their games, and have significantly reduced the gap on the scoreboard as a result.

Sunday’s game against Darley at the Darley Hub was a telling example.

While the Lady Redbacks were unable to score for the afternoon, they also held Darley to 21 goals — a big improvement on their two previous encounters at the ground, which saw Darley score 31 and 30 goals respectively.

Darley were able to seal the game by scoring six goals in each of the first, second and third quarters, but Carisbrook impressed in the final term by restricting the Devils to just three goals.

Tara Kennedy, Tara Curtis, Julianne Baldock, Anika Munn, Amanda Foster and Ashleigh Hansen were all named in the best.

Carisbrook were unable to win either of their games on Sunday, with Darley’s under 16 team getting the better of Carisbrook, winning by 10 points.

Although Carisbrook started strongly enough by kicking two goals to one and leading by five points at quarter time, the Devils dominated proceedings in the middle two quarters, kicking two goals to no score to eventually make it a 15-point lead at the final change.

While the Lady Redbacks kicked a goal in the final term, it was not enough to win, and they just missed out on a finals berth, finishing seventh.

Laylah Smith, Olivia Rogers, Rhani Evans, Maddison Smith, Rhiannon Carter and Ella Gourley were all named in the best, with Carter kicking two goals.

The Lady Redbacks’ senior team will now look ahead to a clash with Lake Wendouree this week, a team who Carisbrook have enjoyed playing against in recent weeks.

Although round four’s encounter resulted in a 184-point win to the Lakers, recent games on Carisbrook’s home deck have shown how competitive the Lady Redbacks can be against good opposition.

In round eight, the Lady Redbacks went down by 67 points, but they were also able to win their second quarter of the season in that game, having kicked three goals in a superb third term.

In round 15, despite going goalless for the afternoon, Carisbrook had an impressive outing, restricting Lake Wendouree to just four goals themselves in what was a 24-point defeat.

Lady Redbacks co-coach Matthew Johns said Sunday’s game, which will be played at Alfredton Reserve in Ballarat, was a winnable game for the girls.

“The girls are pretty confident if we can get a full side in, and have everyone ready to go. They are beatable,” he said.

“The girls are very excited about the challenge.”

Johns said the season has been a great learning curve for the girls, but they have handled every challenge to provide themselves an opportunity to show their worth on the big stage.

“We’re excited about the girls going forward. They’ve come a long way, both mentally and on the field, from day one to where they are now. It’s a massive improvement,” he said.

“Everyone can see the difference between the team we had at the start of the year and now. The girls are a lot more confident and they can see it themselves too.

“The girls have come on really well in the way they have bonded together. It’s unbelievable. They get together after the games, they train well together. The standards have lifted so much, they encourage each other, and that’s been so important for the club as well.”

Sunday’s game against Lake Wendouree will start at 12.45 pm.

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