ON Saturday, August 1 the Bombala High Heelers League Tag team took the field in the knock out semi final of the Group 16 competition. Their opponents were the Cooma Fillies who ran out against them in front of a sizable crowd at the Eden football ground.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The High Heelers started well with a great defensive set followed by strong runs from Keiarna Rodwell, Lucy Sellars and Trina Brownlie to gain good field possession.
With the ground quite muddy and slow the girls began to feel the pinch, with the game being played at high intensity and few penalties to stop the flow of the game.
Numerous break away runs from Tash Stewart, Chloe Hodak (sponsored by Lou Lous) and Maree Coates were soon shut down by the strong, eagle-eye tagging of Cooma’s fullback Kate Schofield.
However the pressure mounted for the fillies as the Heelers continued with good field possession and it was a set play to the left that saw Monique Ingram offload to Lucy Sellers (sponsored by Bendoc Parkpoll Hereford Stud) with an overlap out wide, Sellers then popped the ball to Janine Jamieson (sponsored by Jamieson Bros Sawmill) who was able to dart her way across on the wing to score first points for the game. Maree Coates made a valiant attempt to convert from out wide but the kick was waved away leaving the score at 4-0.
As the half time hooter loomed the Fillies began to create momentum on the back of tiring Heeler legs and the elusive running of Alecia Bolton capitalised to shimmy through the Bombala defence scoring for the Fillies. Kate Schofield was able to slot the 2 pointer putting the Fillies ahead 6-4.
Despite the great tagging efforts of Maree Coates, Emma Sullivan and Tash Stewart just seconds out from the hooter sounding, it was Bolton who again broke the line to score under the posts for the Fillies, cementing their half time lead to 12-4.
Welcoming the break to re-group, the Heelers headed into the change rooms determined to forget the last couple of lapses in defence and focus on dominating field possession in the second half- sure this would lead to points on the board.
The Heelers did this in the second half well, extremely focused on shutting down any of the attacking efforts the Fillies through at them. Emma Sullivan and Sue Morgan held strong in the middle tagging well and setting up play.
Wary that the time was being eaten up on the clock the combination of Monique Ingram (sponsored by Fortitude Physiotherapy) and Tash Stewart (sponsored by C&G Hood) again saw Stewart put points on the board out wide for the Heelers. The conversion whilst another decent attempt, was waved away and the fillies still led 12-8.
Jane Peadon, Amy Stone and Kaylee Keavey took strong run ups in attack and Maree Coates began to mix up play using chip kicks to keep the defenders second guessing.
Sam Ingram (sponsored by Foodworks) proved tough to handle, making forceful runs and often defending multiple tags in a row. However, to the Fillies credit they were able to wrap the ball up and keep the Heelers from crossing the line again.
Whilst the two tries each score line showed how even the contest was it wasn’t enough for the Heelers, conversions making the difference with the final score line 12-8 in the Fillies favour.
The High Heelers finish the Group 16 League Tag contest in 4th place, a valiant effort for the new team. The High Heelers thank the Fillies for the well-fought, clean, competitive hit-out and wish them well for the rest of the season.
As always the High Heelers would like to thank all those who supported them throughout the season. The girls look forward to re-grouping during the off-season and continuing to build diversity and depth across the team, and are pumped to come out firing bigger and better next year.
Whilst this brings the Bombala and district’s football season to an end, stay tuned for the results of the clubs presentation night to be held in a few weeks time.
Again the club extends thanks to all the sponsors for the year: Bombala RSL Club, Caldwell Building & Contracting Pty Ltd, Ron Milliner Earthmoving, RAW Strength Bombala, Dongwha, Bob Stewart, Our Local IGA, Pat Lomas and Imperial Hotel Bombala.