Talia’s Talking Points | Round 5

It was a great feeling to be back at home at Stratarama Stadium for the first time in 2026 (including with new goal celebration songs) and we loved seeing the Tiger Army support all three of our Senior teams playing at the one venue. We faced Eagles whom currently sit top on the table.

We had a pleasing start and capitalised on strong midfield to forward line connection, with a strong lead and set shot from Eloise Mackereth getting us on the board early. Soon after, Kiana Lee capitalised with a goal on the run from great pressure from our small forwards, Lucy Armitage and Kiara Henry.

With scores level at quarter time, we continued our strong pressure game and our backline was able to reap the rewards with several strong intercept marks that gave us great rebound from D50. Leading the way for our backline was 16-year-old Tori Evans in just her 5^th league game, who finished with 19 disposals in a break-out performance that reflects her underage selection in the SA U18 squad for 2026. Ellie Kellock took 6 intercept marks for the game and continued to work hard to propel us into our forward half.

We headed in at half time just the one point between the two sides and felt we were right in the game. The start of the third quarter was very pleasing as our midfield (led by Isla Wiencke, Asha Dufour and Kiahni Russell) won first possession and connected well with our leading forwards. Eloise Mackereth put two more goals on the board from strong leads (finishing with a personal high of 4 goals). Unfortunately, we were able to let Eagles get back into the contest as they scored the next 3 goals in succession prior to three quarter time.

The last quarter was an arm wrestle and we did not match Eagles in the contest. We don’t believe in honourable losses when we are determined to be a more consistent side that stays in the game to ensure we are in a winning position. However, we can take many positives out of this game including the belief that our best football is very good football.

We face West Adelaide this week, back at home on Saturday afternoon.