State U23 women showcase skills in QueenslandWednesday, June 22, 2016 - 8:54 AM

WESTERN Australia’s State U23 Women showcased their skills with consecutive wins over Queensland’s U23s last weekend.

The first game at Yeronga Oval, South Brisbane on Friday night saw WA wear Fremantle Football Club jumpers in a hard-fought contest that finished with just five points the difference.

WA 8.6-54 defeated Queensland 7.7-49 with Emily Bonser, Tayla Bresland and Megan Boddington among WA’s best players.

Saturday allowed the players the opportunity to watch the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Lions AFL game at the GABBA before suiting up in Eagles jumpers on Sunday morning for their second contest against Queensland at Metricon Stadium.

Another close game saw WA fight out a 23-point win sealed by livewire forward Kira Phillips who kicked a fantastic goal on her left foot from the pocket.

The 8.10-58 to 5.5-35 victory was spearheaded by Phillips with outstanding support from ruck Susan Chuot and running defender Cassie Davidson.

Coach Martine Pearman said Phillips was instrumental in leading WA to victory in both games and also paid tribute to defenders Davidson and Bresland.

“Tayla Bresland did a very good job of containing Queensland’s key forward Tayla Harris, while Cassie Davidson provided a lot of run out of the backline for us and also contained her opponent really well,” she said.

“Kira Phillips stood up in the forward line and helped seal the win in both games with really consistent efforts.  

“Overall the girls played so well as a unit and were aggressive with their attack on the ball. Winning contested footy was a real focus for us and we battled hard for both wins with phenomenal attack on the ball. The girls were really relentless in that area and played great team footy.

“The run and carry was also really good, which allowed us to link up and penetrate the forward 50. We doubled Queensland’s inside 50s in the second game which was a great result.”

Pearman said the opportunity had also provided the players with a great insight into preparing for elite level competition.

“Queensland had three players with AFL experience so that was a good test and a great development opportunity. Our U23 players are our next tier of development players and we tried to implement an elite program with the mindset that the national competition is just around the corner and these are developing players of the future,” she said.