Today, Bennettswood Reserve will be home to only one Animals game with the Thirds facing the Monash Blues as the women travel to Bill Woodfull Oval to take on Albert Park, and the reserves and seniors make the trek over to Westbourne Grammar to face the Westbourne Grammarians. Last weekend wasn’t the best for the Animals with all four teams losing on the day, but today provides no better opportunity to remedy that.
The search for a permanent Thirds coach has been a long one for Emmaus St Leo’s, but this weekend is Gideon Sands’s second official game as head coach after taking the reins last week. Sands has been instrumental in all that she has done for the club since coming aboard at the beginning of the 2021 season to help out with the men’s squad, and there are no doubts she won’t continue to do so for the latter half of the year.
Greg Rollo-Walker has been named captain for the day as the Thirds roll out a comprehensive leadership group that will look to oversee them for their remaining games, Anthony Smith will join fellow Anthony Smith and make an appearance to boost the forward line after some good form in the reserves, and James Parish will play his first game for the Animals. Rounding out the additions are return-players in Nic Robin, Niall Morrison, Steven Downie, Patrick McCluskey, Matthew McIvor, and Nathan Cadden, with the former three having last ran out for the Animals in 2018. It’s been four years for McCluskey and McIvor, but it’s been longer for Cadden, who last pulled on the blue and blue in 2014.
The last time Emmaus St Leo’s played Monash, the Blues ran away with the win. Alex Lavery, Sonny Dipietro and Ben Kearns kicked the only Animals goals, with the latter taking top honours, but the team will be without all three as Lavery retains his reserves spot and Kearns misses with concussion.
It’s been an up and down season for the Emmaus St Leo’s women’s team, but their clash against Albert Park, who sit third on the ladder, will be an extremely good test to assess where they’re at. The last time the Animals travelled, they won their first game of the season.
Following with the apparent theme of returning players, Rhiannon Stute will make her long-awaited return to Animals footy this weekend, playing her first game for the club in too bloody long. After a breakout season in Emmaus St Leo’s women’s debut year where she played all 14 games, Stute only played four in 2019 after suffering a knee injury in round 5. She will start on the field on the halfback flank, providing some grunt and class out of the backline. Missing this Saturday is captain Dee Burden, arguably the Animals’ best player of 2021 so far Vic Holt, after a nasty finger injury at training, and Sheridan Harris. In Burden’s absence, OG Animal Bridget Monaghan will take the captaincy reins for the first time, and ruck-extraordinaire Molly Tancred will start at half-forward.
The Emmaus St Leo’s reserves and seniors have been strong contenders all year, but haven’t been without their lapses. Both teams suffered losses in round 10 against Hawthorn, in games they arguably should have won, but their opponents this week in the Westbourne Grammarians will provide them a good chance to get back on the winner’s lists.
Jeff Riordan will play his first game for the reserves since 2018, but the team will be without all three of the best players who faced the Warriors last time in the aforementioned Smith, Guy Donovan and Isaac Waite, with the latter missing due to keeping his spot in the seniors. Seasoned reserves backman Fraser Walker will also return from a hamstring injury that has seen him out of the last two games, and Kye Roberts pulls on the blue and blue again, coming back from injury through the twos.
In his second year at the club, Connor Leevers will make his seniors debut after fantastic form in the reserves for season 2021, but the team will once again be without the bests from round 1’s clash against Westbourne in Matt Hill and Jack Hunt.
Round 10 was one to forget for Emmaus St Leo’s, but it’s a new weekend and all four teams will be ready to rebound. The first bounces for the women’s team and the Thirds are at 9:20am, while the reserves are at 11:40am and the seniors at 2pm. Get down to either Bill Woodfull Oval, Westbourne Grammar or Bennettswood Reserve to watch your favourite Animals take the field.