Donald v. Sea Lake-Nandaly

Women:

Missing several key players due to outside commitments and injury, Donald recruited heavily from the junior ranks and it was pleasing to see Sophie Burke, Piper Smith, Edie Rowe, and Victory Davis make their senior debut on Saturday. The young players adding depth to the team and demonstrating their talent and potential.

With Teaneil Sarre stepping in as captain for the week in Trinity’s Cooper’s absence, the young team was enthusiastic. But Sea Lake- Nandaly’s players, including Melissa Caffrey and the virtually unstoppable Kathy Velleley, proved to be formidable opponents.

Sea Lake started the match strongly with an early goal, and secured a second after a scuffle and some calls against Donald. The Tigers’ goalkeeper Ali-Jane Thompson had a relatively relaxed time during the match, as Donald struggled to breach their defence effectively. But the resilience and determination the Royal Blues displayed against the stronger Sea Lake-Nandaly team was credit to them.

Numerous foot fouls saw Donald learn a valuable lesson in the first half, when too many players were lured inside the D. They made necessary corrections after the halftime chat and the second half was cleaner and more coordinated. Isobelle Rowe switched on after the break and played a very impressive second half, and Sophie Sarre played very defensively, effectively reducing the Tigers’ opportunities to score in the second half.

Final scores, 0-4 to Sea Lake-Nandaly.

Donald awarded Isobelle Rowe with the Warakirri Cropping Best On/Coaches award. Bec Cumming was voted the “Dellavedova Best Team Player” for her consistent contribution throughout the game.

Men:

With some key members missing due to the Senior Championship and others being away, Donald knew that it was going have to work hard against Sea Lake-Nandaly Tigers, as they had been playing so well. And work well they did. Some great passes and stops were made by Lincoln and Ben and of course the Smith twins had their fancy ball work out in the D. Unfortunately Tye Griffiths for Sea Lake-Nandaly got hurt, and a pause was held where the Donald team’s chat must have worked, because Toby was able to weedle his way into the D and have a shot at goal and scoring.

In the second half feeling some of the pressure come off with being one up, the Donald boys worked well together again to keep the ball away from the Tigers’ end.

There was great pressure from Spencer in the back and this pressure caused the ball to go down Donald’s end again, but a shot at goal was sadly missed.

After a short corner for Donald was a missed opportunity, the ball finally made it to the Tigers’ scoring end, where Sam made a fantastic stop to keep the score Donald’s way.

A shot at goal by Aidan resulted in another goal before the ball headed back down to Donald’s scoring end, where it was hit in by Ben, but unfortunately no one was there to receive it.

In the dying minutes a green card was given to Zac, but that couldn’t dampen the Donald boys as they secured another win 2-0. What a way for new recruit, Nic Baker, to end his first game.

Donald awards: Donald Auto Elec best, Aidan Goode; Della Vedova best team player, Toby Smith.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 16 June 2023.