The Eden Whalers women’s team is going to the Sapphire Coast AFL grand final after a best on ground showing from forward Kamilla Grubesic.
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Grubesic booted a massive haul of six goals for the Eden club in a 20-point win over the Pambula Panthers 9-12-66 to 6-4-40.
The Panthers were unable to shut the gun forward down as took a lion’s share of marks in the front lines and stepped well on the run.
A credit to the Eden team was also the excellent range they were able to attack from with defensive efforts by the Panthers nullified as the Whalers were able to kick goals from distance.
“We bunched up in defence to try and shut her down, but she was just able to take shots from afar,” a Pambula spokeswoman said.
Kate Mitchell also used her great attacking range to best advantage, adding two extra goals to the tally, while Carra Sheldon had a great running game and was rewarded for her efforts with a goal.
The score at the first break was just just one goal difference, but it could have been wider.
Pambula players took a shot forward as the buzzer sounded, thinking nothing of it most of the players began to walk in for their group huddles, but the ball rolled a great way to land through the posts and count on the scoreboard.
Pambula kept pace with the Whalers for parts of the game, but couldn’t overcome the immense scoring prowess of their Eden opponents.
The Panthers took a number of shots on goal, but a few missed opportunities provided one point, or none, when it could have been six the spokeswoman said.
The Whalers held a tight ring of defence to keep the Panthers’ forwards under pressure and it paid dividends to keep the scoring low from their rivals.
The main front of the match was in the midfield battle where the Eden Whalers were able to hold plenty of sway, but faced strong opposition from the pairing of Madi Whatman and Grace Knox.
With help from Brit Salt the trio were a good force for the Panthers and each added to the goal tally.
Officials said it was a fast and physical game, with a player from both teams coming off injured.
The Pambula spokeswoman said the injury left Pambula short of a bench, and they could not keep pace with the fresh legs of Eden.
The Whalers will now face the Tathra-Bega Sea Eagles in Saturday’s grand final to be held at the Berrambool Oval in Merimbula.
It is the grand final that many local Aussie rules pundits were expecting and all eyes are now glued on the inaugural women’s fixture.
The Whalers are yet to dethrone the Sea Eagles, but have been the closest team to doing so all year and the team will leave it all on the field come the weekend.
A full day of games will run at the Merimbula ground for the grand final with the women’s to run from noon.