Tara Murray
Keilor’s hopes of a third straight Essendon District Football League women’s premier division premiership are over, with the Blues knocked out of the finals.
The Blues only sealed their finals spot in the final round of the season, knocking off top side Aberfeldie.
Full of confidence heading into the finals, the Blues faced Moonee Valley in a knockout semi final on Saturday at Greenvale Recreation Reserve.
The Blues kicked the only goal of the first quarter to lead by eight points at quarter time, before the Fog kicked two of its own in the second quarter to lead by 10 points at the main break.
The Blues were able to reduce the margin back to three points at the final break as they tried to keep their season alive.
Georgia Marsland kicked her second goal to allow the Fog to open up a nine point lead 11 minutes through the last quarter.
The Blues got one back quickly, before Marsland kicked her third in the dying seconds to seal a 4.7 (31)-3.3 (21) win.
Blues coach Brooke Surgeon said in the end they were beaten by a better team on the day.
“It was a four quarter effort by the girls,” she said. “At half time we were really happy and we said that we wanted to win the next quarter.
“We won the third quarter and we set up well in the last quarter and were in control of the footy. We couldn’t get on the scoreboard which has been a little bit of an issue for us throughout the season.
“We weren’t able to make the most of the opportunities.”
It was all single goal kickers for the Blues.
Bianca Micthetti was named the Blues best along with Annabel Strahan and Emma Picone. Surgeon said Leah Spargo and Madeline Barton were others to have a strong game.
For the Blues, it’s the first time that their number one women’s side has failed to make a grand final.
Surgeon said they will take plenty of positives out of the season with a young list.
“Every club goes through peaks and troughs,” she said. “We lost four players to VFLW [Victorian Football League Women’s] and one retired and they were all key players. We didn’t have under-18s last year either.
“Finals is a solid effort and this year gave the girls the opportunity to try and play in different positions.
“The next few years will be very exciting for us.”
The Fog move through to the preliminary final where it will face Oak Park.
The Kangaroos lost to Aberfeldie in the other semi final, 6.5 (41)-3.5 (23). Aberfeldie is the first team through to the grand final.
Meanwhile, Burnside Heights will come again after a heartbreaking semi final loss in the division 1 competition.
The Bears seemed destined for the first grand final spot for much of the match against Greenvale, having taken a lead early on.
The Bears held strong as the Jets came hard in the second half and remained in front of most of the last quarter.
A free kick to Talia Motta in the Jets forward line gave her the chance to win the game with four seconds to go.
She did exactly that and caused a 3.6 (24)-3.4 (22) loss for the Bears.
