Victoria crush The Allies in AFL Women’s State of Origin clash at Etihad Stadium
VICTORIA handed the rest of the country a football lesson with a crushing win over The Allies in Saturday night’s AFL Women’s State of Origin match.
Last played by the AFL as a one-off game in 2008, State of Origin football was officially revived at Etihad Stadium as a women’s game to fill the void of the AFL’s pre-finals bye week.
As expected it was a tough, hard-fought contest with plenty of highlights and a good skill level but ultimately one which was lopsided to say the least.
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Victoria showed more hunger, dominated possession and was able to lock the ball in its forward half for large periods of the match.
Led by captain Daisy Pearce, who collected the best-on-ground medal, the ‘Big V’ disposed of their opposition in style, kicking the last 13 goals of the game to win 17.11 (113) to 2.4 (16).
Melbourne’s AFLW captain, Pearce had the ball on a string in the all-important opening half, gathering 24 disposals and a goal before being slowed by a corkie in the second half to finish with 37 disposals through the midfield.
Teammate Jasmine Garner shone up forward with five goals from 17 touches, while Karen Paxman (30 disposals), Emma Kearney (28 disposals), Kara Donnellan (26 disposals) and Ellie Blackburn (24 disposals, three goals) were other key contributors.
Paxman, who played underage football for Victoria, said pulling on the Big V jumper again for the match had been a big thrill.
“Just to have the Victorian jumper on again after a few years, it’s such an honour,” she said.
“It (State of Origin) holds a deeper meaning than just a one-off exhibition game. I played Victorian football years ago and it was always very meaningful so to have that back adds a lot of purpose.
“To be playing with some girls that you’re used to playing against, having them running alongside you, it’s amazing as well and it was amazing to win.”
The problems for the losers extended beyond the scoreboard, The Allies falling like flies in the second half as they experienced a series of injuries.
Emma Zielke (ribs) was taken to hospital while Chelsea Randall (thigh) and Kirby Bentley (knee) also came off the ground with injury concerns.
Collingwood’s Emma King was a standout for The Allies in the ruck, while Emily Bates (20 disposals) in defence and Ebony Antonio across half-forward were also good.
A crowd of 9400 attended the match - down on expectations of up to 20,000 - with the game having not been ticketed and entry free.
