Tara Murray
Hillside’s return to Essendon District Football League women’s premier division finals has ended in a straight sets exit.
Having been the minor premiers, with just one loss for the regular season, the Sharks proved no match for Oak Park and on Saturday Aberfeldie.
Abers dominated the preliminary final with the game over at half time, with the margin 30 points.
While the second half wasn’t as free flowing on the scoreboard, the damage had already been done.
Abers claimed the win, 9.3 (57)-3.3 (21) to win through to a fourth straight grand final, with the two Covid-19 seasons in the middle.
Sharks coach Blaise Ferraro said you have to fire at the right time of the season and they didn’t.
“Very rarely do you go from the bottom of the ladder to a premiership in the same year,” he said.
“They bought some top end talent and we were missing a few players, that was the main difference in the end.
“Their ball use was a lot above ours and that has been a weakness all year and that showed.”
The Sharks had a few outs heading into the game and that was compounded by skipper Hannah Ibrahim being a late out.
It meant they had to shuffle their midfield around and they had several players playing their first season game for the season.
Ferraro said they started the game OK before a few mistakes allowed Abers to start to put some scoreboard pressure on.
“Their entries inside 50 we could not stop,” he said. “Hannah being a late out didn’t help.”
Yara Taylor, Lisa Parisi and Caitlin Sargent were named the Sharks best.
Sargent, who won the league’s goal kicking, finished with two goals.
Ferraro said the loss was part of the journey and they would only be better for this season
He said they couldn’t have expected the season they’d had when it first started.
“They made a commitment to each other and it was pretty much a new group,” he said. “The buy-in was there during the year.
“You have to be at your best at the right time of the year and we weren’t. Abers have been up there for the last couple of years and haven’t been able to get over the line [2022-23].
“It doesn’t just happen as you want it to. Next year we’ll come back even stronger.”
Meanwhile, the Sharks division 1 men finished the regular season in third spot after a final round loss to Maribyrnong Park.
The Sharks face West Coburg in a qualifying final this weekend.
Josh Covelli needs two goals for the game to kick his 100th.
