SWFL are country footy champions

The South West women’s team have been crowned champions of WA Country footy after a big Grand Final win on Friday afternoon.

The Rio Tinto Women’s Country Championship brought together the best female players from the South West, Kimberley, Great Northern, and Great Southern football leagues for a two day round robin tournament to decide who’s the top of the state.

Despite dominating the local competition, Busselton only had four players in the squad. Rennie Meadmore, Maddy Obal, Gemma Wharton and Emma Borinelli flying the black and white flag. The Mail understands coach Max Jetta originally had included Katie-Jane Grieve and Karyn Beeson in the side. However, Grieve was unavailable, and Beeson is still recovering from a leg injury suffered in the Grand Final.

Wharton and Obal proved instrumental in game one against the Kimberley, guiding the South West to a one-goal win. South Bunbury’s Daisy Rigby led the scoring with two goals in the shortened fixture, which was played in halves to allow two games on the same day.

The win was a strong start to the tournament, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the South West ladies. They came into the competition having never lost a game of state representative football in all ten years of competition.

That changed in game two against the Geraldton-based Great Northern Football League. Scores were level with a goal apiece at half time, but even with another Rigby double, the SWFL couldn’t hold off the Midwest’s charge.

Needing just four points to seal it in the dying minutes, the SWFL couldn’t get the ball out of the defensive 50, and the siren blew on a decade long winning streak.

The South West needed a big win over Great Southern in game 3 to get the percentage to reach the grand final, and they delivered.

Rigby kicked three goals, while Donnybrook’s Lacey Holdsworth kicked two to lead their team to what was then a competition top score of 46.

Great Southern were kept scoreless thanks again to the defensive efforts of Wharton and Obal.

That performance led to a rematch against the Kimberley in the Grand Final.

Their win was put beyond doubt in the first half when Emma Faulkner, Lacey Holdsworth, and Daisy Rigby kicked three in a row before Kimberley had scored. By half time, the SWFL were 23 points up.

Kimberley did fight back hard in the second half, but the South West defence held strong. for the final 18 minutes of the game, the ball scarcely left the Kimberley’s forward half. Yet, they were only able to get two goals.

The 16 point win once again confirmed the South West ladies as queens of country footy.