Our latest newsletter recapping The Women’s Division 2 Grand Final can be found here: Grand Final Newsletter

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From the President
Football
Wow, a day for the club on Sunday. Our Division 2 girls held off a strong finish by the Penrith Rams to win our inaugural Women’s premiership Cup by 2 points. We opened the game very strongly, dominating possession and scoring in the first half. Our defence held well when Penrith made some positional changes and came out with a charge in the second half, scoring a goal within 15 seconds of the start. It was a fantastic game of football. Sophia Wall won the best on ground in the final to add to her premiership medal. Well done girls, outstanding.It was especially pleasing to see how many of our club showed up in support of the girls. A comment was made that Pennant Hills has bought community football back to AFL Sydney. It is a strong part of our culture that we should all be proud of. Thank you to all those who attended.

Although we would agree a below-par season on the field for the club, we have polled extremely well in AFL Sydney. I am very pleased to announce that:

  • Stephen Wray was an equal winner of the Phelan Medal for the best player in AFL Sydney Premier Division Men.
  • Theo Moraitis was named in the forward pocket in the AFL Sydney Men’s Team of The Year
  • Michael Carroll was named in the back pocket in the AFL Sydney Men’s Team of The Year 
  • Stephen Waray was named at half-back flank in the AFL Sydney Men’s Team of The Year
  • Eleanor Rugg was named the full-back in the AFL Sydney Women’s Team of the Year.

These achievements are obviously immense and reflect very highly on the players and their coaches and support staff at the club. Well done to all.
 
I am also pleased to announce that after meeting with Mark McVeigh this week, he has committed to working with Ben Roberts throughout our preseason. He will assist in teaching and training our game plan. Also, he will be conducting leadership development sessions for our club leadership groups. We look forward to having such a high-level AFL coach continue his involvement with the club.

Facilities
With some help from Oliver Williams and Stewart Woodward, the shelving is up in our storage facility. This has certainly made for an awesome amount of storage space for our equipment. Our game day equipment is now better secured with Terry Donohue having put caging around the under-verandah storage area to stop the local kids from getting into it. Unfortunately, we have suffered vandalism to the golf cart that will require repairs.

There have been delays in the start of construction of stage 2. I have a meeting with Council on Monday morning and will get a status update.

Functions
AFL Grand Final Day
24th September at the club rooms and lower oval. We will have a family day with food and fun. Who is the club’s fastest 100m sprinter and longest kick? Sweeps for Norm Smith medallist, first goal scorer etc. It will be a fun day not to be missed.

Presentation Day
Sunday 30th October at the clubrooms. Celebrate our season that was and our best of the best. Trophies will be presented, and fun will be had.

Annual General Meeting
The club’s AGM will be held at the clubrooms on Monday the 12th of December. I thank all who have had input to the running of the club this season. Please consider if you would like to input to the direction of the club and be on the committee. We need as many hands as possible to achieve our goals. All positions will be opened including:

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Head of Football Operations
  • Operations Manger
  • Governance Manger
  • Commercial Manager
  • Events Subcommittee
  • Merchandise Sub Committee

Reach out and I will be happy to provide a job description for anyone interested.

Good For Footy Raffle
The Good for Footy Raffle has now closed. Thank you to those who purchased tickets. Good luck, I hope that you win a car.

Todd Williams – Pennant Hills AFL Club President

Match Reports

We have the one match report for the Women’s Division 2 Premiership
Women’s Division 2 – Grand Final
(PH 3.3.21 defeated by Penrith Rams 3.1.19)

Grand final day had finally arrived, and the girls were all extremely excited! Coming up against Penrith who finished 3rd in the regular season but had made an impressive run into the finals, we knew it would be an extremely tough contest from the outset. There was a strong breeze on the day, heading up the hill end, so scoring down the carpark end was going to be difficult.

First quarter we lost the toss and were going against the breeze. The game started and already it was a tight contest and extremely physical, with 6 ball-ups still in the centre square before either team could get a clearance. Penrith had the momentum and were sending the ball in long with the wind. Our defence held up with great scramble from Alex Williams, Steph Martin and Kelly Chapman. We finally managed to clear the defence and spread the game, and Ash Grubba kicked a goal against the wind and the run of play. Quarter ended, and against the breeze, we managed to lead 6-1.

The second quarter was more of the same, congested on the wing and a lot of tackling pressure. Emily Carroll and Emily Lewis were tackling machines, making it hard for Penrith to get a clean clearance. We tried our best to open the ground up and use our wingers but the wind kept pushing the ball back into the congestion. Amy Court and Sophia Wall were breaking lines and surging us forward. Off a behind, we managed to get a turnover and Ash Grubba again converted to put us 2 goals in front. At the main change, we lead 14-1.

The third quarter saw Penrith come out like a bull out of a gate. They made some changes in the midfield and it proved effective, kicking a goal within the first 10 seconds of the quarter. 2 minutes later, they kicked another and we held onto a 1-point lead. We couldn’t get the ball even close to our forward 50 and our midfield had started to lose some of the dominance. Penrith had turned up and we were under real pressure. Late in the quarter, they kicked another and now lead by 5. The siren went and we had 20 minutes to get this lead back. We had the breeze in our advantage, and we were there to win.

Final quarter was down to the wire, scrappy and congested, Penrith flooding back to try and preserve their lead. We bombarded them but to their credit they kept strong in the backline and we couldn’t score. Time after time, they managed to clear the ball or get a stoppage. Finally, off the back of a ruck contest in the forward line, Eliza McDonald punched the ball back into the hot spot, Bella Nash picked it up, broke two tackles and snapped a fantastic goal. The crowd rose as one and we had the lead back by a point with about 5 minutes to go. We went down into the forward line again and kicked a point. Penrith cleared out the open side of the field and were making a run into their forward line, Lisa Maynard making a holding the ball tackle that stopped nearly a certain goal. It was the match winner. They came at us again, but it was all too late, the siren blew and we had held on 21-19.

A fantastic show of grit by the girls to come back and win, and an amazing game to watch. Credit to all the girls for such a magnificent season and a premiership to top it off! To finish minor premiers and to then have the pressure to go on and win is a great achievement. It is also the first women’s premiership for Pennant Hills so a big milestone to have achieved.

Jed Corbett – Women’s Division 2 Coach 

Events

The following is our calendar of confirmed events for Season 2022:

Saturday 24th September – AFL Grand Final Function – Clubrooms
Sunday 30th October – Presentation Day – Clubrooms
Tuesday 8th November – Preseason Starts 
Monday 12th December – Annual General Meeting