Emma stars as girls make their mark

By Marc McGowan
WOMEN’S football took another step towards wider recognition with the staging of the inaugural Victorian Youth Girls Championship at Casey Fields on Saturday.
It featured the best under-18 players from the Western Bulldogs Forever Foundation competition in the western suburbs against the Footy-Pak South East league’s elite.
In front of a good crowd, it was the South East that stormed out of the blocks to put four goals on the board, while keeping the West to a solitary behind for a 27-point quarter-time lead.
Narre Warren midfielder Kara Donnellan was wreaking havoc all over the ground for the South East to be the stand-out performer in the opening period.
The West came roaring back into the contest in the second stanza through the stellar contributions of Jessica Cameron.
A huge mark and the first of four goals by Cameron capped a three-goal burst by the West as it held the South East goalless, despite wind not being a significant factor.
A 12-point half-time deficit was sliced further when Cameron bobbed up again with a superb overhead pack mark before slotting another major from close range.
The South East finally kicked into gear again to restore the two-goal buffer, but a six-pointer on the run from Candace Smith cut the margin back once again.
It proved to be the last time the West provided any resistance as the South East’s strong Pearcedale-Baxter forward duo of Courtney Clarkson and Mariah Marshall made the most of the output of Narre Warren’s silky skilled Emma Champion and hard-working Donnellan.
The match was over by the final break, with the South East breaking out to a five-goal ascendancy before running out 22-point winners.
Champion was named best on ground for the South East just in front of Donnellan, while West captain Brooke Surgeon took out the honours for her side ahead of an extremely unlucky Cameron.
The youth girls’ program began in 2004 and has grown to the extent that there are now three associations all-up in the South East, the western suburbs and Bendigo.
The interleague encounter was the first time the girls experienced 20-minute quarters and used a leather football in competition.
Former superstar footballer and current Victorian Women’s Football League president Debbie Lee was pleased with the standard the clash produced.
“To see the young girls playing, as president of the VWFL, I’m pretty excited that this will be the talent we’ll hopefully see in years to come,” she said.
“The enthusiasm, the skills, the high marking, the tackling, and just the general knowledge of football was absolutely phenomenal.”
AFL Victoria female football development manager Chyloe Kurdas hopes the game’s growth in the state will help keep talented young girls in the sport.
“The kids that want to excel, we don’t want them going off and playing soccer because they can go to the Olympics or playing for Australia in tennis or whatever,” she said.
“We want to provide them with some other things that will make them stay in footy and already the kids are saying how much fun they are having.”
Another interested spectator was Berwick women’s captain Cherie Charles, who had her recruiting cap on.
“Obviously, a lot of people don’t know about our senior side, so that’s basically why I’m down here, trying to let the girls know that once they move on they’ve got somewhere to go,” she said.
“I’ve only been involved since last year and I think I’ve done everything I could in a year.
“I’m getting older, but I’m just enjoying getting the young girls over – they keep you young!”