By Tara Murray
Gisborne’s season came to an end on Sunday as the Bulldogs fell short against East Point in an AFL Goldfields’ Women’s preliminary final.
The Bulldogs entered the game as underdogs, but went in with a lot of confidence that they could cause an upset.
The Bulldogs started well kicking the only goal of the first quarter, before the Kangaroos hit back in the second quarter.
Once the Kangaroos hit the front they stayed there, winning 4.6 (30)-2.0 (12).
Bulldogs co-coach Lisa Borg said they ran out of legs.
“East Point were too good,” she said.
“They had seven on the bench and we had three and two of them were under-18’s.
“The girls were buggered and pretty sore from the week before having played with 14 on the field due to Carisbrook not having enough.
“They had to run a bit extra and they ran out of legs.”
Borg said everyone dug deep as they tried to progress to the grand final against Redan, but in the end it wasn’t to be.
She said league best and fairest Jess D’Antonio, Leila De Guy, Nadine Bailey, and Neve Craigg were among the standouts.
She also praised the efforts of Marilyn Elder, who stepped up from under-18s.
Despite not making the grand final, Borg said they were proud of how far they had come in their second season.
She said it was about believing that they could do it.
“If we stick together next season after a solid season this year we will continue to improve,” she said.
“We kept telling the girls there’s a difference between being cocky and being confident.
“When we play our best we can knock anyone off.”
Despite the season just finishing a group of players are keen to continue to train this week.
Borg said one of the biggest things for their side had been about playing as a team.
She said having had two seasons under their belts they would only get stronger next season.
The season isn’t completely over for Gisborne with one of their under-18 teams and their under-13 team both in grand finals this weekend.
