By Alex Woods
The 2024 Season has made a quick appearance and it is now time for action, Warburton-Millgrove made the short journey over to Seville for Round 1.
It was an exciting time, as the club showed off its new Women’s football team.
The morning started with a fresh D Grade team taking the court first as they welcomed eight new players into the side (4 being still 17 and Under, 2 from last years 17’s and 2 new faces). Unfortunately, the 17 and Under competition isn’t going ahead this year due to lack of teams in the division but luckily for the Burras, they were able to field the players into our senior grades. A fresh and young D Grade took the court against an experienced Seville side. Seville started off strong having a quarter time score of 16-4. Seville continued to use their experience, knowledge and momentum throughout the game, but as the quarters went on, the Burras girls found their groove and powered through the remaining 3 terms. The final score was 43 to 15, with Holly Cole shooting 6 goals, Lexi Cole with 4, Brooke de Pedro with 3 and Sienna Muir with 2. Holly Cole, Emily Kay and Sienna Muir were the top players of the game.
The Women’s footy team ran out for their first-ever game. They kicked off the first quarter strong with a margin of 0.0-0 to 2.4-16 at the first break. They continued on the momentum and secured another 4.1, to be 30 points in front at half time. They kept Seville to 1 point in the third quarter whilst securing another 3 goals and 1 behind, to have a solid lead at the last break by 48 points. As the final term progressed on, the steam started to deplete. But the team carried on till the very end and secured a solid win of 5.7-37 to 9.9-63. Ann Ito secured the first goal of the game, Madi Ward and Jade Mewburn contributed 2 goals each, Madison Andueza with 1, as well as Emerson Woods, Rachael Maxwell and Charleen Gray all securing 1 goal each. Our top performers were Tamika Ferguson, Ann Ito, Emerson Woods, Jade Mewburn and Madi Ward. Well done, team.
Next up was C Grade Netball. The Burras welcomed the inclusions of Chantelle and Ashlyn Hermansen, Steph White, Amarli Weir who have joined from the 17’s and Cam Partel who has been bought up from D Grade. Seville went off on a strong start with a quarter time score of 9-4. The team made some changes and came out strong, but still was down at half-time 17-11. The second half was strong, keeping Seville to only secure 5 goals to Burras 6. They continued on into the last term, securing 10 for themselves and only going down by 2 goals. Ashlyn Hermansen shot 11 goals, Mel Hancock with 9 and Cam Holland with 7. The top performers were Nicole Winzer, Amy Morris and Chantelle Hermansen.
Reserves kicked off their first game of the year in a tough battle against Seville. The Burras rolled out with a slightly different team compared to the last couple of seasons. Some new young faces, Nate Lucas has stepped up from Wesburn Juniors. Jack Broek, Cooper Shalevski, Brent Clinch, Lewis Moran and Brett Winzer all made a return. The Burras were only down. By 11 points at half time, but unfortunately, the 3rd quarter went towards Seville’s with them securing 4 goals to the Burras’ 1 to have a 30-point lead heading into the last term. They powered through but the game was Seville’s, as they won the game 9.11-65 to our 3.6-24. Damien Egan kicked 2 goals and Ash Taylor with 1. Brent Clinch, Ash Taylor, Caelan Flynn, Brett Winzer Jamie Nelson and Jackson Jones were all named top performers of the match.
Next up was A and B Grade Netball. A Grade started with another new face, Jessie Hare. They started strong and was an even match thought out. It was set to be a tough by both sides and our A Grade girls put up a strong fight, having a half-time lead of 6 goals. They continued the momentum into the last term and both teams had a ripping quarter with Seville securing 11 goals and Burras putting up 11. The win was our by the tie the siren sounded, securing a 6 goals win. Bianca Daniels didn’t miss a beat putting up 38 goals, and Karly Wappett with 11. Bianca was also top performer of the game, along with Ashlyn Elliott and Indiana Pinnock. B Grade finished off the netball for the round, with another fresh side for the Season. Monique Lee and Zoe Timoney are new additions into the side, with Teagan Adams and Ruby Kelly also coming up from C Grade. Seville got the early jump having a half time score of 31 to 10. They continued on and got strong as the game went on but it was Seville game and their strength maxed the Burras’ this round. The final score was 56 to 24, Alex Woods shot 9 goals, Jordy Butcher with 8 goals and Emily Hay with 7.
Top performers were Sienna Wyatt, Jordy Butcher and Chelsea Barnard.
The Seniors finished off the round, as they welcomed Hudson Semple into the side making his Senior debut after a strong preseason. They also welcomed back Lachie Hewitt wearing his father’s 19 jumper and also making his senior footy debut. New recruit Jake Byrush took the field for his first Burra game, and the side welcomed back Jack Lee and Aiden Westlake coming back from injuries. A strong start for the Burras, with Liam Westlake securing the first goal and then Bailey Humphrey securing 2 not long after and a 2 goal lead at the first break. The second quarter came around and Seville matched the Burras goals, kicking 3.2 to to 1 in that term. Only down by 3 points heading into the second half, the Burras continued on with the fight and had a mega third quarter, a few behinds were able to then be turned into goals with Tom Barr kicking one, as well as Bailey Humphrey, Trent Elliott and Lachlan Hewitt. The Burras went into the last quarter with a 43-61 lead, but still needed to fight right until the end. Both teams secured 2 goals each, but with Burras having a solid third quarter, they were able to hang onto the win and claim a 8.8-56 to 11.8-73 victory. Top performers for the match were Nelson Aldridge, Tyson Henry, Lachlan Hewitt, Aiden Westlake, Tom Marr and Dylan Walker.
Well done to all teams with Round 1 efforts. Home game this weekend against Alexandra.
