It was the quarter final for the Celts and like most of the year we struggled with numbers having only 13 against a fully loaded Sarsfields side. But in true Easts manner we didn't forfeit or give up we went out there gracefully and gave it our best shot.

Vicki and Caroline took their usual positions and battled hard in the back line, and moving back in the centre back position Amara Flanagan pulled out all the might to keep them from scoring to glory proportions.

Laura Austin pushed herself to get good possession of the ball and to get it out to the mids and what a blinder Anita Woodward had, she ran huge lengths of the field and got all the votes as the best Communicator which is no surprise, but Woody, not sure about the rugby league tackle in the dying minutes of the game, it looked good but not sure if Seamus taught you that technique on Wednesday Night training.

Ngaire and Renee once again gave it their absolute 150% running it right through the mids and Kylie Gibb was our best chance of getting the ball into our forwards, had we had the numbers to fill the forward line it may have been a different story. A great point by Lynda Petherick and gutsy efforts put in by her, including a collision with Queensland President Emma Spranklin which left our Lynda a little battered and bruised, her knee injury probably still reminding her of our tough game on Sunday.

I thought this could possibly be my retirement game, but I'll say this now, I'll come back for another season (my 7th) if Woody does (c'mon one more year!), and hope next year see's all of the girls come back and bring a few new players with them. Those who were new this year, you will find that your second season will be a blinder, the skills will enhance and who knows next year might just be our year! Next year is the Celts silver anniversary so it's a special year, lets start pre-season fitness now, lets start recruiting now and lets get the premiership come September next year! Wouldn't that be a beauty!

Veronica Snowdon

Numbers were once again down to a sense of urgency, only getting our bare minimum just seconds before the refs whistle. Luke Evans stepped in to give the coaching hat a try and did well! Thanks for your support Luke.

Our midfield combo of Renee Treweek and Ngaire Linde kept the engine running with hard yards put in by both girls from the far backs right through to the forwards. Ngaire seemed to glide through the constant obtstacles of Sarsfields players and finding opportunity from one end of the field to the other with a graceful and almost effortless looking pace.

We were down on numbers but our first half saw a little bit of action in the forwards with a point from Dene Lynch and a goal from Renee Treweek. The back line put in some tough efforts despite the girls from Sarsies having a good first half.

Second half came and for the first time ever I decided to put on a Goalie's jersey. Despite the ill feeling in anticipation of the pressure of people kicking a large ball as hard as they can straight at me I saw the game from a whole new perspective. One observation is that Karen Edgerton is a machine, that girl never stops, she is just amazing to watch! I was proud of my efforts, stopped a few goals and only let one goal in for the second half! Go Ronnie!!! Hehehehe.

The Easts girls did our usual trick of stepping it up in the second half, it's like we turn on the switch at half time, we're warmed up and ready to rumble! Sarsfields found it tough to get through in the second half and the Celts scored another goal and another 3 points. A few positions were mixed about for the second half with Caroline McDonald going into the forward line after a super first half in the backs, Caroline is fast becoming one of the Celts most versatile and reliable players! Great efforts put in by Jen Munro, Ella Green and Lynda Petherick who put their fitness to the max and never gave up! State Training is starting to show with the increase in fitness and skills with these girls. Great work!

It's crunch time this Sunday girls, we face the Sarsies again and we're hit with do or die in the first week of finals. Lets give them something to remember!

See you all bright and early Sunday.

Veronica Snowdon

What a great game to play and a feeling of confidence and enjoyment there was in the Celts on Sunday. Having a full side and everyone out there an hour before the game and warming up made all the difference to the way we think out on the pitch. Thanks to Woody for a good warm up session before the game.

There was a strong midfield this week with Ngaire Linde returning from injury and Jenny Munro putting everything she had into chasing the ball down the line. Our Marathon running duo Anita Woodward and Maxine Ram were on the ball and making good use of the kick outs from Goalie Nicky Ram to get the motor running into action and down the line into our forwards.

Our back line never stopped working, week in week out our backline trio work brilliantly together, Karen Edgerton, Caroline McDonald and Vicki Hirst put up the gate to the opposition. Outstanding work girls! Amara Flanagan put in a gutsy effort as centre half back, clearing the ball from the danger zone so many times.

The star of the day again, Kylie Gibb, this girl does some brilliant magic out on the field and doesn't shy away from some fiesty competition either! She was onto the ball time after time and precise in her kicks over the bar. Putting Kylie amongst the likes of Renee Treweek and and Lynda Petherick the 2 goals and 6 Points made for a great boost. Some great improvements in play from Ella Green also, some nice takes there.

The Mitchels girls were pretty good in getting to the ball first and a few of the girls were rather mighty once they got going which i'd say is what got us in the end, it was a good game to play though, it wasn't a flogging and it was a chance for players on both sides to shine and use skills that may not come through in other games against dominant teams.

It seems a long time since we started our pre-season training in February but really it's not that long ago that most of the girls mentioned above were learning to solo for the first time or didn't really know how to handpass or kick precisely. It's a good feeling to see how much everyone has learnt in only just a few months and to see it come together in a decent hard game of footy!

Veronica Snowdon

What can a person report on when it's obvious a team of highly skilled Australasian and Queensland players are going to come up a treat against a group of mostly new rookies to the game. All jokes aside, and there were enough of them on the footy field (jokes about the goalie going in to score a few goals etc) you would still have to hold high regard and respect to the girls at Easts for not giving up and still putting a team out there against all odds.

I have a lot of pride for our girls for going out there, busting their guts to put in everything they can against Shamrocks and for still having a good time on the pitch. I can always report on the high acheivements of our outstanding girls no matter what the score may be.

Nicky Ram made it back after a few months maternity leave from the game and she definately hasn't lost her touch, Seamus made a brave move to put her in goals and she never stopped the whole time. She blocked the kicks like speedy gonzalez, brilliant comeback Nicky! Caroline took the reigns in the back row, never giving up the constant attack from the Shammies forward line, Caroline has bloomed in her second year for the celts, hardly ever missing training and being in the constant firing line in the fullback positions, she's fast becoming one of our superstars. Vicki Hirst had a blinder alongside Caroline making sure the other side of the back line was well covered, she made sure they never got past without a fight. Amara Flanagan had a gutsy first half blocking hard hitting balls in the halfback line. Lynda Petherick upon return from a break ran hard lengths of the field to get the ball into the unfortunate and empty forward half. Julie Wiseman seemed a lot more comfortable in her second ever game, a few more games and she'll be firing all guns blazing. Lots of running and attacking of the ball for Kim Borzatti and Kirsten Hemming and Ella Green putting a huge effort in having to cover most of the forward half when the ball came our way.

As the season goes on and I see the girls bond on and off the field, and see their skills develop each week and the hard work that Seamus puts in as coach, thought goes into when all our planets may just line up and it all comes together, every team has it's season eventually! I see some fantastic new talent waiting to come together and it's bound to happen eventually.

It was not so long ago when our weekend's opposition were struggling to get half a team on the pitch and now they are thriving so there's proof that the ladies from Celts can one day too have their day!

This weekend we are up against the girls from John Mitchels at 12.15. They will be putting up a big fight since our win against them the last time we met. So lets get there nice and early warmed up for what should be a great game.

This Sunday is also our last Kitchen duty round so make sure you hang around to help out. A roster will be done up by Wednesday nights training.

Veronica Snowdon

It was a solo event for the day for the Easts Girls with the guys having a Bye. It was great to see some supporters there from the guys team and definately a good feeling to see 15 girls kitted up to take the field. Our demise in numbers at games lately saw the return of superstar Maxine Ram who certainly took the field like a duck to water.

Seamus is on the money when he says we only just get our motor running in the second half, the remedy would be a decent warm up before our game. His observation was definately clear in the first half with Sarsfields getting the wind advantage and some nicely tucked in goals through fitness and teamwork. The last few minutes of the first half saw the Easts girls get into the game and there was more possession of the ball and close to the goal line, unfortunately without the results to make it all matter. Great effort again to our backs, Karen firing up again after a few weeks of injury, Caroline giving it her all and Vicki not letting them get past without a fight. Woody put enormous effort into receiving the kickouts from Laura and Sarah who shared the goalie role for the day.

The second half saw a lot more Easts ball, but some windy conditions made the bounce a little unpredictable, I have to admit I was guilty in being way off the mark when a high kick came my way. Some impressive efforts from newcomer Julie getting good possession of the ball and again brilliant running from Kim. Ella and Dene performed well in the forward half together. Even though we still only got 1 point to the scoreboard it was a better feeling amongst the girls to know that we had 15 on the pitch to give it a good go.

With 5 games remaining before it's finals time, the girls have agreed to be more prepared, attending training, being at football an hour before games for a more thorough warmup and advising Veronica (0417079061) direct if you are unable to make it to training or games.

On a different note, we had a word from the organisers of the Queensland Ladies State Team after our game on Sunday, I strongly urge any of our girls to go along to training on Monday nights at 7pm at Willawong. All are welcome and it would be great to see some representation from Easts giving it a go. There are a number of girls on our side who do have what it takes to play for Queensland. The Australasian Championships are in Brisbane this year, it would be a very proud moment to see some of our Celts run out in Maroon colours this coming October.

Veronica Snowdon

It was a cold and extremely windy day out at the Wong and Harps were out in force with enough players and subs to crush anyone in sight! Easts warmed up with a decline in optimism, seven girls missing from the side, looking like we were going to forfeit. A last minute arrival saw us with 11 on the pitch against a fierce 15 side Harps abolishment.

Despite the dissapointment within the girls that half our side wasn't there every single Celt went out there to give 150%, everyone ran twice as hard and went in for the ball with all their might! It's a hard to watch one lone blue and gold gal going full speed at the ball and seeing a sea of red and white jerseys just waiting to take that moment away from her. Brilliant running from Kylie, Kim and Renee in through the centres, I saw great backing up from Kirsten and Woody and The Backline had the toughest job of all but never gave up. Thanks heaps to Caroline who put her body on the line as goalie in the first half and great work from Dene who wanted to give it a go for the second half in goals. I found myself the only one in the entire forward half, and well everyone knows that running isn't my natural talent, add three defending Harps players to the scene and it wasn't the way i'd like my luck to be. Numbers just weren't on our side.

We never gave up in the first half despite being thrashed by the strong Harps side but the second half saw them give us a little bit of mercy by putting only 11 on the pitch. We gave it all and did get the ball in the forward half a little more but no such luck in converting the change into points.

Girls we've got 6 weeks to go in competition and then finals, lets start going through our diaries and make sure we can be there for every game. Time to step up the committment and give this competition a good chance.

This Wednesday the 13th of July there will be a team meeting before training at 6.30pm sharp. Please make sure you are there on time.

Veronica

We have to go to the old saying "You Win Some You Lose Some" for Sunday's game, and unfortunately it was the "Lose Some" part that we got hit with on this occassion!

After winning our last game against Souths and our win last weekend you would think the girls from the Celts would have a fair crack at the whip but there's something to say about this time of year when the injuries start taking their toll and winter illnesses among other things can quickly run a team down. The 13 side team against a full Souths side were sporting 3 recovering sprained ankles and were missing some of our strong runners. The likes of Genevieve and Laura from Souths didn't stop giving it to us all game, and resulted in a Souths domination of the day.

Despite the girls having a pretty embarrassing first half, our backrowers put in all the determination they had to stop Souths from converting all of their attempts. Karen Edgerton doing a brilliant job again to shut Laura down. Caroline McDonald is improving out of sight in the back row these days, communicating well with Karen and Vicki and other girls in the back half. And the Braveheart Award goes out to our Goalie Cath Orgill, it's a tough job, especially in times like this, but she does it so well, Cath we are glad you were there!

At half time Seamus gave the side some inspirational words to just keep on going and give it all we've got. There were a few changes in the second half to give the exhausted backrowers a break and in the last 10 minutes or so the Celts were determined to let off that last little bit of steam and put on a good show. Kylie Gibb took a good run around the pitch and got some gutsy possession of the ball, we found ourselves with having a bit more ball posession in the forward half and Caroline McDonald managed to score her first ever point in her few minutes as a forward for this game, great stuff Caroline. Sarah Rodgers put in a great effort still mending from a sprain a few weeks ago and Kim Borzatti never gave up the chase in a difficult situation where there were always spare players to get on top of us. It was an effort to be proud of but a game to learn from.

At this time of the season normally the pegs are already in the correct holes when it comes to who might walk away with the Grand Final win come September. We've surprised a couple of people with our few wins and the weekend again saw the competition's strongest team go down, the predictions have been stuck in the mixer and what we have to ask ourselves is do we want to come out with a good chance?? It can be done, with our full squad of girls and a die hard attitude I know we can pull it off! Putting in 100% at training, getting to games with plenty of time to warm up properly to prevent injury and to be prepared for what lies ahead, putting in extra fitness and turning up every week to boast a full side are the only things we need right now and we might have some September games to put in the Diary!

We can do it girls!

Veronica Snowdon

Easts Ladies topped of a great training session on Wednesday just gone with almost full attendance to come out all guns blazing at the Wong on Sunday.

With a rare sight these days having one sub on the bench and a full side on the field, it was the right combination that we needed to come away with the win.

John Mitchels were down three players but they certainly had a few good runners in the centres but lucky for us their conversion rate was poor for the day. If they had their full team it could have been a different story. There were a few of these advantages that gave us the upper hand but the Celts improvements in training and a few new additions to our team as well as a great playing attitude are all strong contenders for a well deserved win.

Our new sister connection of Kylie and Meagan Gibb gave a fresh new look to the forward half and kicks that could almost set the O'Neill's out into orbit from Kylie did the trick. Good on you Kylie with 2 goals and 2 points to be proud of for the day.

Seamus made a few changes to the side and Lynda Petherick came in at full forward, beautiful work with a goal and a point to her credits! Just as well Lynda got some points on the board after she injured our star Backrower Karen after allegedly jumping after a few bevvies at our Easts Function on Friday night! Good form girls! Karen I hope your ankle mends quickly!

Despite being unwell Renee Treweek managed to pump in a nice goal to add a little more flair to the scoreboard, great effort Renee.

There were some gutsy efforts put in by Kim Borzatti and Ngaire Linde, Kicking some ass right the way down the length of the field and picking up players that managed to come loose.

Dene Lynch also tried a new spot on the field in our backrow and did a sensational job in putting the opposition's forward line off their kick. Mitchels had plenty of shots at goals/points but plenty of hassle from the girls in the backrow stopped them from being shots that mattered!

That means there are only three teams remaining that we have not yet defeated. Harps, Shamrocks and Sarsfields. I'm sure that if we can continue to give it 150% at training and with the numbers really starting to look good it's not an impossible task.

Fantastic win girls.

Veronica Snowdon

It wasn't a good day for the girls of the Celts with a sleepy performance against Sarsfields. It really does show that Sarsfields game really has improved significantly over the years and obtaining QGFA President Emma Spranklin on their side is proving to be a good asset.

Our back line, although missing the talent of Caroline McDonald still put in a gutsy effort. Karen Edgerton suffering from the flu still did all she could to stop Sarsie's from getting through. Great running from Kim Borzatti from one end of the field to the other. Lynda Petherick and Renee Treweek put in the hard yards and newcomer to Easts Kylie Gibb showed some promise of extraordinary performances to come. Amazing improvements in the skill level of Jenny Munro and Laura Austin, always getting in front of their opposition and leading towards the ball. Jenny's commitment in hardly missing a training session is really starting to show.

We had a full side for a change this week but we just couldn't get the engine running smoothly this Sunday. Back to the drawing board and back to some gutsy training sessions from Seamus to get us back in the game.

Veronica Snowdon

A disappointing turnout of numbers for the ladies team resulted in a 48 - Nil whitewash in Harps favour on Sunday. After such a sweet victory last week against Souths it was a wake up call in a rather blunt way.

Harps demonstrated elite fitness and a level of skill that is from years of playing and years at the top of the ladder. It was hard to go up against that kind of brutality when you are outnumbered but the Easts girls didn't give up, running their guts out to try to keep up with not just their player but any other player that may have been loose in the game.

I take my hat off to the girls who copped it in the back line but never stopped putting on that awesome defence. Renae Whitehead definately taking the Falcon award in goals for receiving a rather hard smack in the head from a Harps ball at close range (and a graceful recovery too!)

Again great running and good talk from the girls running through the centre of the game, Dene, Lynda and Ngaire and great backing up from Kim and Jen.

The Harps girls as nice as they are seemed a little cocky in this game, knowing they had an easy win on their hands, so it would be nice to give em' a little bit back the next time we meet girls! Lets get the numbers consistent and show them that some of our new kids on the block have learnt a few tricks.

Lets see who the Easts Ladies bowling legend is when the girls meet up for a bonding session on Friday night at Strike Bowling Bar in the city, hopefully a few strikes and some refreshing beverages as a team can bring us a good edge to play up against the Sarsfields girls on Sunday.

Veronica Snowdon

"A Legend Was Born!!"

My apologies girls for not mentioning every point and goal scorer of the day because....... I lost count! What an exciting game. No one seemed very revved up for our game to begin with but on paper the lineout seemed to look strong in every section and that was the start of sheer brilliance for the afternoon.

The game started off firing right from the very first second, not letting Souths get away with the game, and staying on our players, it only took a short time for the girls to get familiar with the play and who's a danger and we had the possession of the ball the majority of the time. Up by one point at half time the girls were psyched and ready to keep it that way for the rest of the game. Second half tiredness didn't get the better of anyone and the game was ours, winning by one oh so sweet point at full time.

Karen, what a ripper game she had, Laura from Souths was pretty much born with a Gaelic footy in her hand and Karen kept her well away from doing any serious danger. The Easts Boys cheering us on gave us a great edge too! The back line were all like Fort Knox when it came to protecting those goals, there was no way Souths were going to get glory on that side of the field at all. Fantastic performances in the mids from Renee Treweek and Ngaire Linde who bounced up in every free space to get possession of the ball. The fitness of the half back and half forward lines helped move the ball smoothly down the field the whole game. Laura Austin, wow what speed she has, and god help any opposition who think they can come off best dressed against this girl. She was listening when Seamus said we need to get a bit of bitch into us, you go girl! Lynda Petherick is displaying skills of someone who has been playing gaelic footy for years and "Dene The Scoring Machine" is certainly romping it in with her height and beautiful kick!

The forwards had that little magic touch this week when we mixed it up a bit with Jenny Munro's debut as centre forward with Cath and Ella strong on the sides. This worked some wonders with the centre's speeding through to convert the points.

I think we've proven we can do it now girls. It's always good for the ego to come off with a win. Keeping up the training and fitness and fantastic team spirit I'm sure there will be a few more wins to come.

Congratulations, it was well deserved.

Veronica Snowdon

You know when the girls come off the field saying for the first time they felt like the game flowed and had momentum that the skill level has now kicked in and the sky is now the limit!

Right from the word go our girls had possession of the ball and ran great lengths with the ball right through the mids. Coach Johnny mentioned that Easts would have had 75% posession of the ball. Lynda Petherick, Dene Lynch and Ngaire Linde worked wonders right through the guts of the game to maximum capacity. Fantastic running girls. Having Seamus pump up the volume on fitness training on Wednesday nights is really starting to pay off. Our backs put in fierce defence to stop the scores getting up there, Caroline McDonald now with a few games as a backrower under her belt is doing some tremendous defence, keep up the great work Caroline. Sundays game also so the return of an Easts favourite Amara Flannagan helping out in the forward line against some pretty tough defenders from John Mitchels. Two Brilliant Points from Dene Lynch and Ngaire Linde. The skill is getting there and the conversion of points I am sure will be soon to follow.

Each week people from other clubs come up to me and comment on how much our girls improve each week, we're definately getting noticed out there on the pitch girls so keep up the training and the fitness and keep up the brilliant show for all to see each Sunday.

Veronica Snowdon

Although the girls were defeated again in Sunday's match, consideration has to be given to the fact that the opposition has one of Australia's fastest and most skillfull Gaelic Footballers in their lineup. A job well done to a number of girls who tried their best to keep on Ronnie (Harps) for the full duration of the game, Renee Treweek, Kim Borzatti and Lynda Petherick ran amazing strides to keep up to the Harps pace.

Although the Score shows Harps looking good there was a lot of possession of the ball from the Easts girls. Two fantastic points scored from Lynda Petherick and Christine Peever and of course a brilliant goal scored by the opposition back rower when she accidently kicked the ball into the net. I would like to take ownership for this goal as I must have confused her so much she kicked a goal for me.

Again the star players are the Easts Backline, there were countless wide kicks from Harps due to great pressure put on by our girls. Keep the tough defence up girls!

Each week I see our girls improve by leaps and bounds, working together as a team, communicating out on the field and developing some great skills. For a team that has started with a 90% new lineup I think such improvements are something to be proud of.

Veronica Snowdon

Although the scores were uneven again and unfortunately not in our favour the girls were in high spirits and out to shut the oposition down.

I'm sure Karen Edgerton invented the word "Defence" whenever the ball was in the back line, Karen was putting herself on the line to stop the ball going any further and fantastic work from Renae Whitehead in goals. Vicki Hirst once again sticking to her player like glue, with Caroline McDonald making the defence line a tough force to crack.

The whole wing worked in well together with Laura Austin, Jenny Munro and Kirsten Hemming communicating beautifully to get the ball down the line. Captain Kim Borzatti again ran entire lengths of the field not to let her player get away easy and going in hard for the ball, a tumble in the second half brought a few seconds of fear but Kim got up and gave them more for the rest of the game.

Easts have put their mark on the scoreboard with a graceful kick for a point from Dene Lynch in the second half. Well done Dene, heres to many more to come.

It was brilliant to see a full team and even some subs for the first time this season. With a few more recruits and giving it our all at training and games we'll start to see some noticable improvements in the coming weeks. Great game girls!

Veronica Snowdon

I'd like to start out by saying 'GOOD ON YOU GIRLS'!!! Although the final score may have seemed a little down-heartening I think we all did a really great job. When you think about it, over 50% of this years women's easts team are new players and this was only their second game ever. Everyone, including players who have been with the team for years, is still learning and will be for a long time, so use these first few matches to give you a feel for the game and get into the swing of things.

The first half seemed to be our time for getting used to the positions we'd been chucked into, due to our lack of players, and that was definately when John Mitchels scored their most points. It was hot out there and we were doing twice as much running as usual to make up for missing players so our performance in the first half can be defended somewhat. However that's not to say we didn't work our little butts off. All the girls did their best to stay with their players and apply pressure and it was really the few extra players they had loose that gave them the ability to carry the ball through to their forwards the way that they did.

After some quick refreshments and some positive yet powerful words put forward by our makeshift coach/goalie Cath (who did a fantastic job I might add) the Easts Girls really put their best foot forward in the second half. It seems to be the way our games are panning out, that the second half is always our best, which is quite unusual seems we should all be rather buggered by that time, but thats definately something we can use to our advantage in future games.

The second half saw more pressure applied to the Mitchel girls causing them to make many more mistakes. This definitely shows the newer players that even though your opponent may have the ball, be bounding away from you and in shooting range of the goals, it's still possible for her to mess it up if you stick with her and give her a hard time getting that ball to the boot.

I personally think the girls did a brilliant job given the circumstances, they all did well in their new positions and really gave 100%.

Woody did a great job in the midfield, especially coming from her position in corner full back. Everywhere I looked Karen seemed to always be there clearing through and scooping up the loose ball and Vicki did a fantastic job defending against Dorelle.

Overall the girls gave it their all and went down fighting with the final score being 6 goals 13 points to none. I'd like to add that it was probably fitness and lack of numbers more than anything that let us down on the day. Just imagine playing the same game with a full team and 5 subs on the bench :)

I think from here onwards, if we get the numbers out there on Sundays, we've got a really good fighting chance. We've got a good, new, fresh team that's capable of doing anything so long as we keep putting in the effort and remember to have fun.

Kim Borzatti

It was a tough start to the season for Easts ladies coming up against a state and national representative packed Shamrocks team. It was the first time on a Gaelic field for most of the new Easts side and although Shamrocks were the team of the day a brilliant first time effort was put in by the Easts Ladies Team.

The back line had their work cut out for them with great support and hard work put in by Anita Woodward, gutsy kick outs from Karen Edgerton following down the line into the mid field great play from Ngaire Linde and Dene Lynch. Some timely kicks out to the wing to Laura Austin who always managed to break away from her player to take impressive possession of the ball and great all round running from Kim Borzatti who put in some serious hard yards in such hot weather and against some of Australia's best players.

With a few more games under our belt and some opportunities for us to bond as a team a little bit more, hopefully the next time we come up against Shamrocks we might just give them a run for their money!

Veronica Snowdon