Magpies Ladies Defeat Woden Valley Rams

The Yass Magpies ladies defeated the Woden Valley Rams 30 – 10 in round 9 of the Blumers Lawyers Katrina Fanning Shield on Saturday, July 2 continuing the team’s winning streak. Coach Brendon Housten said with just six rounds left in the competition the Magpies are looking pretty good for finals footy. “It’s not often that you see your team sweep through all the teams,” he said.

“So we’ll pat ourselves on the back for that one, but as I say all the time, there’s always next week, and we’ve got to keep pushing forward.”

Despite the coldness of a Yass winter evening, the Magpies have kept up their intensity in training. “The intensity is still there, and people are still showing up, which is always what you want as a coach, you can’t do anything without players.”

“Even with the colder weather we’re still getting good numbers,” Brendon said.

“I know it’s hard for everyone to get out there especially in Yass when it’s always that one or two degrees colder than in Canberra.”

Although Yass sits on top of the ladder, the team has two byes left in the next six rounds. This season, the closest the Magpies have come to being defeated was a tight match against the Queanbeyan Blues in Round 6.

If it hadn’t been for a last-minute buzzer try the Blues would have taken the win but Yass scraped in with a 6 – 8 win. Despite getting the win on the weekend, Brendon acknowledged what both the Rams and Bulldogs can do in their element and added that all three in premiership contention have been improving every week.

“Those three sides would probably be the biggest threats I think, but any side can win on any day, so we don’t take any team lightly.”

Next week the Yass Magpies are up against Goulburn Bulldogs in Round 10 of the Katrina Fanning Shield. The match kicks off at 10:40 am at the Workers Arena in Goulburn on Sunday, July 10. After defeating Goulburn in Round 1 the game looks to be a big one for Yass with plenty of passion brought about by the two sides long standing rivalry. “I think Goulburn will get up for it,” Brendon said.

“Obviously, teams always find a way to get that extra gear when they’re playing the top side and I think with that added rivalry as well, Goulburn will be really raring to go.” “So we’ll have to be on our best as well but I think it is going to be tough game.”

Brianna O’Rourke Magpies work hard but miss out on a win The Woden Valley Rams defeated the Yass Magpies Reserve Grade side 22 – 18 and the First Grade side 32 – 8 on Saturday, July 2 in Round 11 of the Blumers Lawyers Canberra Raiders Cup. First Grade Coach Cam Hardy said it was a cold and hard slog running north to south at Phillip Oval in Canberra.

“We played 50 per cent of the game pretty damn well and the next 50 per cent wasn’t as good.” It was the tale of two halves, but Cam said the Magpies just didn’t take their opportunities when they had them and the Rams took the lead. But the Magpies played well for the majority of the game and have improved defensively over the season, the side has also really improved on their discipline the coach added.

“We’ve just got to combine all of it, and we’ve done it once or twice this year, but it needs to be consistent.” Cam said the Magpies need to work on some small mistakes, which can add up and cost a lot at the end of the day. “If we can cut some of those out, we’re right in there with a lot of the teams,” he said.

“I continually say to the team, ‘we’re our own worst enemy’

“We just need to go out there and it doesn’t have to be expansive or fancy,” Cam said.

“It just needs to be kick, chase, tackle, take opportunities when they present them well with good discipline and you could come away with two points.”

“On the weekend it was a max effort from everyone, just a couple of those little moments really cost us in the end.”

The coach said some of the younger Yass locals have improved considerably this season.

In particular, he named Bailey Maher and Ryan Prins

“They’re the younger guys that are playing well, but some of our senior players are playing really well too.”

Cam hopes to just play some consistent football throughout the rest of the 2022 season and to get a few wins for the boys who have been working hard.

“Get a few wins on the board but mainly just play consistent football,” he said. “They can do it, once we get that mindset, we’ll be right.”

“Sometimes it’s just that little trigger and hopefully we’ll find it.” The Yass Magpies Reserve Grade are up against the Gungahlin Bulls at 1:20pm followed by First Grade at 3:00pm at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval for Round 12 on Saturday, July 9.

Brianna O’Rourke