Team In Focus


Hawks News: Team In Focus

Year 7/8 Girls Round 1, 2021

AMPJFC 12.8.80 def South Coogee 5.8.38

There were a lot of firsts last Saturday at Gairloch Oval.  For an overwhelming majority of the girls, it was their first game of football and their first kick, mark and tackle.  And for the Club, it was the first time in its history that an all-female team had represented the Hawks.

There were plenty of nerves and some butterflies and I know many of the girls felt the same!  The players showed great skill, commitment and teamwork and played a terrific brand of team football.  It was a really terrific performance considering the girls are at the very beginning of their football journey. 

Many of the girls are multi-sport athletes and play netball, basketball, volleyball or swim on top of playing footy.  At the moment, there are 22 players in the team, including four Clontarf girls, whom we welcomed into the group at the training session before the game.  

We train on Friday nights and the girls are a real pleasure to coach.  Every girl is eager to learn and improve their skills and game play.  The girls will continue to work hard at training and in games and with continued application, will improve each week.  

We came up against a South Coogee side that also had a majority of the girls playing their first game.  The match was played in terrific spirit, with both sides showing an ability to move the ball quickly and freely in open play.  

There were many highlights including great team play using handball to open up the game and some skillful individual efforts.  It was very pleasing to see the girls attack the contest and make the ball their focus.

There are many people involved in getting the Year7/8 girls’ team up and running.  For now, I would like to thank all of the parents for supporting your girls into relatively unknown territory of AFL football.  I’m sure all those who were there on Saturday would agree that the smiles on the girls’ faces and the fun they had playing the game is worth all of that support.

Coach Jon Stagg

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