Round 8 Match Report – Eastern Warriors vs Carrum Cowgirls
by H
It was a frosty start at Edinburgh Reserve, with Warriors arriving with iced-over windscreens, frozen fingers and toes, but warm hearts. Home game day was a big one, with five women’s matches scheduled across the day, so it was all hands on deck to get the changerooms, canteen and ground ready before anyone could think about footy.
Warm-ups felt a little different with the notable absence of Alfie. The grapevine was certainly a less life-threatening obstacle without him weaving through it, but it was also a whole lot less cute.
Pre-game, Sue worked her magic with the magnets, shuffling the side around while also lending enough Warriors to give the Willy team a much-appreciated chop out. The final message before taking the field was simple: embrace calm and serenity. After our last encounter with Carrum featured a touch too much red mist (you know who you are!), keeping cool was the order of the day.
Winning the toss, the Warriors kicked out to start, and H and Sandra wasted no time turning defence into attack, launching booming kicks from the backline deep into our forward half. The kicking boots were booming… the talking voices, not so much. At times it was as quiet on the field as the State Library Reading Room, leaving teammates wondering if everyone had collectively taken a vow of silence.
Carrum don’t play footy so much as they unleash chaos. Imagine a box of upturned feral cats: rough, dirty, unpredictable and somehow moving faster than you think possible. It meant the Warriors had their work cut out for them.
But the first quarter belonged to the Warriors. Crisp passages of play, excellent ball movement, resolute defence and scoreboard pressure set the tone early. Alex, Doc and Sunita all hit the scoreboard, with Sunita’s major celebrated by one of the finest sounds in community football—the chorus of car horns from supporters lining the boundary.
The second quarter started just as strongly, but it delivered a cruel blow early when H went down with what has since been confirmed as a season-ending torn calf. Apparently it’s a classic Masters footy injury, although we’re fairly sure H would have preferred to avoid becoming the textbook example.
The Warriors rallied and kept throwing themselves at the contest. Kylie was everywhere through the midfield, covering the ground beautifully and applying relentless defensive pressure. Helen took a couple of terrific marks and used the footy smartly all day, while Ren was rock solid in defence, producing one of the chases of the day with a determined run down the boundary that had everyone cheering.
And then there was Sandra. If you’ve ever watched Ted Lasso, you’ll know the Roy Kent chant: “She’s here, she’s there, she’s every f-ing where!” That was Sandra in the second half. She seemed to pop up at every contest, intercepting, shepherding, kicking, encouraging and generally doing everything she could to steady the ship as the game threatened to get away from us. It was one of those performances that doesn’t always show up on a stats sheet but everyone on the ground notices.
As the Cowgirls began piling on goals, our structure slipped and we found ourselves crowding the footy like seagulls fighting over a hot chip. It wasn’t the way we’d planned to finish, but credit to Carrum—they capitalised on every opportunity.
Ultimately, it wasn’t our day on the scoreboard.
But if footy games were decided by heart, passion, mateship and playing in the true spirit of Footy Rush, the Warriors would’ve won by a country mile. Every player pulled on the jumper, looked after their teammates, had a crack and played the game the right way. And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what this competition is all about.
