By JARROD POTTER
LIFE in the state ranks treated three Beaconsfield junior footballers exceptionally well last week as the Holm Park stars became national champions.
Beaconsfield Youth Girls trio Brooke Struylaart, Georgia Gee and Tyla Hanks lived out every young footballer’s dream on Friday night as they ran out onto the MCG … and it only got better from there.
The Eagles’ trio starred in Vic Metro’s 95-point demolition of Western Australia to take out the AFL Youth Girls National Championships at the home of football.
Hanks and Gee took to the midfield with great success as Hanks smashed through the other states and racked up clearances, while Gee’s best work was outside as she linked up across the wings.
Struylaart worked her way into the game, booting three goals and finishing as leading goal kicker for the national championships.
She snagged six against Western Australia during the round robin phase of the championships, but Struylaart didn’t take any of the credit, despite her 13-goal spree.
“It’s a great feeling – I wouldn’t be able to do it without any of my team mates,” Struylaart said. “They delivered the ball to me – all the midfield, all the backs worked hard; it wasn’t just me.”
“Just winning the premiership – it’s been amazing,” Struylaart said. “It’s pretty special – good team we’ve bonded really well and I’ll cherish this forever.”
Vic Metro coach Wayne Siekman said Struylaart, Hanks and Gee all impressed through the carnival, but he singled out Struylaart’s efforts throughout the last year.
The forward’s work-rate and intensity around the packs was just as important as the goals she kicked and Siekman thinks it’s just reward for Struylaart.
“I’ve been pretty hard on her because I saw her about 11 months ago at interleague – a cold Wednesday night where she kicked five-goals-five and everyone was talking about her,” Siekman said. “I really pushed the girls to work on the things they need to get better at, and her (Struylaart’s) defensive pressure and fitness had to improve.
“I’ve ridden her hard to work on those things and to her credit she keeps working on those things and she got the rewards for it this week.”
“While she kicked a bag of four and a bag of six on the first two days, the most pleasing thing for me was her game on Thursday where she didn’t kick a goal, but her forward pressure, tackling and high-work rate allowed us to kick a couple of goals and allow other forwards to kick them.
“Showed how much of a team player she was – she got her reward on Friday getting a couple of goals and becoming the leading goal kicker at the carnival, so it’s a good reward for her.”
