Series 2 of the Women’s F-League for 2013 has come and gone.
Going into the series, the Boomerangs were unbeaten on 4 wins and a draw and sitting atop the league table.
At the end of the series, the Boomerangs had slipped to second place on the table and managed to secure three wins and suffered their first, and then second, defeats.
The wins were against Dural and South Brisbane (by a single goal each) and Sutherland 7-2.
The losses were to Melbourne Heart (1-3) and Parramatta Blues (1-5).
The Boomerangs started the weekend with a midday game against Dural and did just enough against a quality team to come away with the narrow victory. The match gave the team the chance to blow away the cobwebs from five weeks of no matches (but plenty of intense training) and they had to work hard to beat a determined Dural side with Hayley Buckingham scoring the sealer with only a few minutes left on the clock.
The second game – mid afternoon – was against Melbourne Heart, who, playing at home, realised that they needed a good set of results from this Series to be any shot of ending up near the top of the table. The Heart certainly played with plenty of — heart, and took the game with confidence, coming back from a 1-0 deficit and finishing the stronger.
The Saturday evening game was probably one already pencilled in before the weekend was started, with Sutherland not showing the depth or quality of the other teams in Series 1. They had however, bolstered their roster with a brace of South Aussies, and were much improved across this series. Up until the final ten minutes of play, the game was still close at 3-2, but a flurry of goals (including an Orgill hat-trick) sealed the solid win for the Boomerangs.
An early start Sunday morning saw the match up against South Brisbane – a quality side who have had trouble dominating their southern counterparts. Another very close and tight tussle saw the scores all tied up with ten minutes to go, when Brittany Palombie finished nicely after a good solid team build up.
The final game of Series five was the eagerly awaited match up between the table topping Boomerangs and Parramatta Blues. The Blues took the early initiative slotting three home within the first ten minutes – after that the Boomerangs girls were chasing the match for the remaining 40. They worked hard, but could only penetrate the Blues defence once for a 5-1 loss. The win allowed the Blues to take top position on the competition table.
After Series 2, and ten completed rounds, the Blues sit on top with eight wins, a draw and a single loss. The Boomerangs second (7-1-2) and Heart in third on 6-1-3. Hot on the tail of the Melbourne Heart are Sydney Scorpions on 5-3-2. Outside of the top four lie Dural and South Brisbane, both on four wins and a draw for 13 points, and holding up the base of the competition are Vipers and Sutherland.
Series Three in Sydney in mid August will see the remaining four rounds played, two semi-finals and the Grand Final.
The Boomerangs will face off against Vipers, Dural, Scorpions with the final Round 14 match against the Blues.
Parramatta will play Sydney Scorpions, Sutherland and South Brisbane before taking on the Boomerangs.
The Heart take on four teams below them on the table and have the easiest run home. They play South Brisbane, Sydney Scorpions, Vic Vipers and Dural Warriors.
And the Scorpions – currently in fourth position – take on Sutherland Shire and the three teams above them on the table – Parramatta, Heart and Boomerangs.
To finish on top of the table there is no doubt the Boomerangs Women will need to win four from four. Being a single game (3 points) behind Parramatta, also will require the Blues to be taken down by at least one other team, or they will need to make up five goals on goal difference.
For the Heart, the equation is also simple. Win all their four games and hope that other results go their way (they are too far behind the Blues and Boomerangs on goal difference).
An intriguing Series Three coming up after a fantastic and highly watchable Series Two just completed.
There is no doubt about the success and quality of this inaugural Women’s F-League competition.