Lady Hawks score first win of 2025 season

VICTORY came for the Lady Hawks, the new team’s first for the 2025 season, in a battle of wills and skills at Glendale’s Bower Oval on Saturday 5 July.

While it was a long way to go (a 160km, two-hour round trip), any anxiety on the drive there would have been eclipsed by utter jubilation on the road home, after the Lady Hawks defeated the Glendale Gorillas 14-12.

“I had a lot of confidence in the ladies before we headed down there, because the last couple of weeks have seen good numbers at training,” Alex Sinclair told News Of The Area.

“We go through our plays and everything else before the weekend and all the ladies listen.

“Their job is to polish it off on the field, which is exactly what they did last weekend.”

Good attacking runs down both wings by Katarina, Shian and Taylah, as well as good runs by Destinee and Lilly, helped Gemma Clarke and Annee Perry land the tries.

Gemma took the ball from 15 metres out and stepped past defenders to score just to the side of the posts, which set Lilly up for a challenging but successful kick for the first conversion.

“Lilly has been practicing her kicking at training every single week and before the games, and it is now paying off,” Alex said.

Gemma’s second try was early into the second half, after the Gorillas had struck back.

The Lady Hawks’ pressure pushed Glendale’s defenders back, as the Hawks’ forwards gained territory, allowing Gemma to land the ball again.

The dynamic back-and-forth continued for much of the 50-minute match, but the Hawks’ defence was outstanding and put Annee Perry in possession to land her try with just a few minutes to go.

Annee took the ball from dummy-half, up the short side from 10 metres out, beating three defenders to score right in the corner.

“The ladies listened; running onto the ball was a big thing we needed to learn from the start of the season, it gains us metres and puts us into good field position, and they have brought that from training into the game for the last couple of weeks now, and it worked,” Alex said.

With only minutes to spare, and only two points ahead, the Lady Hawks crucially consolidated their defence, a feat made all the more amazing by the fact that most of them had run the full 50 minutes without a sub-in.

Both sides had managed to score three tries each, but it was the vital two points from Lilliarna Baillie’s successful conversion that clinched the game for the Lady Hawks, 14-12.

The Lady Hawks return home to Myall Park next weekend, playing Swansea at 1:30pm, followed by the Men vs Waratah-Mayfield Cheetahs.

By Thomas O’KEEFE