The Respect Cup is an annual event we always look forward to each year, and it once again did not disappoint! The event is a way in which we promote gender equality, celebrate women's achievements in AFL, and challenge bias, and our amazing footballers did not let us down in achieving all of these aims.
The extremely warm weather at GMHBA Stadium proved to be a hurdle in what was a solid showing by the SHC team. St Joseph’s battled hard with St Pat’s, but fell away in the last quarter to give Loreto a 12-point head start.
The handicap proved not to matter though as a fast-starting SHC extended a 24-point lead at quarter time. The lead only extended from there with the end result a massive 88-point win. Cramp was the theme of the second half with at least half a dozen players limping to the boundary. They all showed great resilience as they were very eager to get back on the field after a quick stretch.
We had a number of individual performances on the day however, the most pleasing part was that every player on the field played their role in what was a great team effort and win.
Sarah Conroy was hot on the footy and used her speed to rebound the ball out of our backline all day. Meg Lappin read the flight as well as we all know she can, taking some great intercept marks across the back 50 (and she tells us she’s a forward!). The whole backline unit was solid – a great effort to only allow one goal and three scores in total.
Our midfield was hungry for the ball, hunted the football consistently and gave multiple 2nd, 3rd, 4th efforts on all occasions. Georgia Wall battled hard in the ruck all day; my prediction would be 36-2 hit out win – pure dominance. Emily Soppitt was tough over the ball in our midfield, several acts of courage and skill shown throughout the day. Ally Lappin ran HARD on the wing all day showing her toughness and slotted 2 captains’ goals for the game – a great reward for effort.
The entire forward unit worked seamlessly together, scoring opportunities were created all over the forward 50 throughout the game. Ellie Walsh started the game on fire slotting 3 first quarter goals before being ruled out after a head knock. It was our Year 9 student Sienna Schmidt that impressed the most on the day, bouncing back at quarter time to slot 5 goals and showed pure danger and class whenever she went near the ball. Sienna was named best on ground for her efforts (the only Year 9 since Mekah Morrissy to do so – following in some special footsteps there!).
A special mention to Minnie McGay who not only showed great ferocity whenever she went near the ball, but stayed to comfort an injured opposition player for several minutes on the ground. A great show of RESPECT for the opposition and a huge part of what the day is all about.
Overall, there were some amazing moments from EVERY player, simply too many to mention. Well done to all players, you made your school and coaching staff VERY proud as always. Girls footy is in good hands with our current group coming through and I (as well as many others) look forward to seeing what our players can achieve in 2025 and beyond.
A big thank you to Carl Tracey and Bianca Cheever for their coaching in the lead up and on the day. Bianca also put in a mountain of work to organise the event. Shout out to past Respect Cup player Liv Mairos who was our runner and hype person on the day, a great person to have around our group of players.
A sincere thank you to all of the staff that came down to watch or live streamed from home; this does not go unnoticed by our players and goes a long way in supporting our incredible footballers.
Scores:
SHC – 14.12.96
Loreto – 1.2.8
Goals:
Sienna Schmidt 5, Ellie Walsh 3, Ally Lappin 2, Evie Albones, Neave Dickson, Izzy Korth, Kaeli Oliver.
Best:
Sienna Schmidt, Meg Lappin, Ally Lappin, Emily Soppitt, Georgia Wall, Sarah Conroy.
Josh Todd, Respect Cup Football Coach
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