In a performance that had everything but accuracy in front of goal, the Animals Women kept their finals hopes alive with a 26 point thumping of Elsternwick.
A collection of superb individual performances, that was matched by a collective pressure game from the entire side caused a slew of both individual and team errors from an Elsternwick side looking to secure their top 4 spot.
A fast start saw gun small forward Paige Hill kick her 15th goal of the season after managing to turn her opponent and run into an open goal. However Hill was unable to convert again for the quarter, and after an extended period of time in their forward 50, Elsternwick managed to find an open shot to grab their opening goal of the game.
It would be their last score.
The 2023 backline for the Animals Women has turned in some courageous performances to turn away opponents repeatedly and with great affect, but this was a different story.
Instead it was the midfield continually turning Elsternwick’s advances around before it would reach the backline which kept the home side frustrated as the game went on.
When the ball did manage to enter the back 50, it would be sent right back out. Elli Haylock, Ash Curtis, and Lilly Hutchinson all managed to accumulate multiple rebound 50 exits, and start many Animal scoring opportunities.
The defensive pressure was contagious, and when the forward 50 pressure became unbearable for Elsternwick, turnover and individual mistakes followed, with even a kick in being smothered by Blaire Preddey, leading to one of the five behinds scored for the quarter.
The goal however did eventuate, with Ashton Billing finding her range from distance to put the Animals well in control at the main break.
Replicating first half dominance has proven to be a challenge in 2023 for the Women of Wattle Park, however by the bay on a Saturday night, they found a way to improve.
If one had access to the Fox Footy pressure gauge and had done the necessary university doctorate to understand how the rating is calculated, it would have still not been enough to measure the relentless and suffocating intensity shown whenever a black jersey even thought of going near the ball.
The only problem was a lack conversion from turnover to scoring in the Third, with Olivia Walker hitting the post from a set shot only 15m to record the only point of the entire quarter.
With one final impassioned plea from coach Mel Dell’Olio at the last change, and a growing contingent of support for the team in blue, an extra gear was found.
Repeated forward 50 entries were the name of the game, and the supply was never short.
When Elsternwick managed to escape the throws of the Animals forward line, they encountered a brick wall in midfield that refused to allow passage past.
Eventually, after missing several earlier (and easier) chances, Paige Hill bobbed up in the right forward pocket to kick one of the goals of the year on a near impossible angle to salt away the game and secure an historic fourth win of the day for the club in front of a raucous and rowdy Animals Hill.
The result keeps the Animals finals hopes well and truly alive with two rounds remaining, ahead of a match up with De La Salle on the final triple header day of 2023.