Sport
17 April, 2023
Bulldogs keep Rovers at bay
MARYBOROUGH ROVERS (40) def by AVOCA (55) A strong third quarter was the catalyst for Avoca’s 14-goal victory over Maryborough Rovers. After being pushed all the way by Rovers in their corresponding match-up last year, the Bulldogs were determined...
MARYBOROUGH ROVERS (40) def by AVOCA (55)
A strong third quarter was the catalyst for Avoca’s 14-goal victory over Maryborough Rovers.
After being pushed all the way by Rovers in their corresponding match-up last year, the Bulldogs were determined to not give them a sniff this time around.
A 13-goal to 10 first quarter gave Avoca a slender lead at the first break, showing that Rovers were again up for the fight, before Avoca scored 15 goals to 12 in the second period to extend their lead to six at the main break.
But it was in the third quarter where Avoca really turned up the wick, scoring 13 goals to five to take a match-winning 14-goal lead into the last break. From there, Avoca eased to victory, scoring 14 goals to 13 in the last quarter to eventually record a 15-goal win.
The combination of Maddy Egan and Gina Beavis showed they will once again be a force in 2023, with Egan scoring 35 goals, while Beavis added 20. Taylor Mason, a new addition to the club, put in a strong performance in defence.
For Rovers, Ruby Saunder scored 26 goals, while Abbey Raven added 14.
Avoca playing-co-coach Egan said she was thrilled with their third quarter.
“We always say the third quarters win premierships, and we love to accelerate in the third to hopefully ease our way into the last quarter,” she said.
“We had a great addition in Taylor Mason coming in, and we were just warming up to the starting seven. It will get stronger, as we had Elisa Pica missing. But I think we did really well. They pushed us, but it was good to get out there.”
Egan said the combination of herself and Beavis will only get stronger.
“We’ve had a whole season under our belts now. It’s awesome that Gina and I can switch between goal shooter and goal attack, and play well off one another. It’s all about keeping consistency throughout the four quarters,” she said.
Egan said there will be more opportunity to gel together as a unit when the clubrooms are repaired, saying that the continued fixes have prevented them from getting to learn all the new faces at the club.
“Preseason didn’t hurt us too much, but the atmosphere has hurt a bit. We weren’t able to have dinners. There’s lots of new faces at the club and we haven’t been able to gel yet as a result, but we have our first function hopefully in round three and we are hoping to have progress by then,” she said.
With the Bulldogs playing Harcourt next week, Egan says that she will be expecting a tough game that mirrored their qualifying final match-up last season.
“You can’t underestimate anyone until you have played them on the court. We won’t go in against Harcourt thinking that it is anything other than a hard game. I’ll look to what I did this week and continue to push forward,” she said.