By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE premiership dream sadly wouldn’t come true for the South East Juniors youth girls at Shepley Oval in Dandenong on Saturday morning, going down to a rampant Yarra Junior Football League side 14.10 (94) to 1.3 (9).
The two sides had already met on the road to this season’s decider, with the Yarra Juniors winning by 40 points in a Round 2 canter – perhaps a sign of things to come.
The YJFL side started with a bang in the first quarter on Saturday, immediately putting the SEJ back on its heels.
Cranbourne’s Brittany Partington admirably guarded the last line of defence but could only watch on as the YJFL slotted the first two majors.
The SEJ struggled to gain possession forward of the centre, while the Yarra Juniors had all the early run of play.
Berwick’s Georgia Fisher was one of the SEJ’s best in a harsh, scoreless quarter for the side – which trailed by 21 at the first break.
In the huddle coach Keith Edwards pleaded with his charges to “work harder and be more aware of the numbers around us”.
“We need to link up,” he said.
“It’s all about the effort and hard yards.”
Edwards singled out the stellar first term efforts of Cranbourne’s Madeleine Martin and Beaconsfield’s Courtney Robinson, who played superbly in a backline under constant siege.
But the coach urged his players to be proactive in the second term, to “lead up to the footy” if they were any chance of mounting a comeback.
But the Yarra Juniors simply seemed more desperate at the contest – with superboot Alana Brown and the super-skilful Danielle Polkinghorne shining bright.
The side extended its lead heading into the break, leading by 53 points while again holding its opponents scoreless.
To their credit, the South East Juniors started the third term with renewed vigour as Beaconsfield star Georgia Anderson found Cranbourne’s Ashley Edwards for their first goal.
Edwards also praised the hard work of Berwick’s Lauren Hojnacki at the three-quarter-time huddle, but the Yarra Juniors already had the game in hand – leading 10.7 (67) to 1.2 (8).
Hojnacki maintained her intensity for the last, and team mate Cranbourne’s Katelyn Cox showed great pace and agility but their side was again heavily out-scored – going down by 85 points.
