Scramble: Army women contest the ball during their win against Navy to take the ADF Australian Football carnival honours. Photo by AB Kade Rogers

By Andrew Stackpool

ARMY women’s Australian Football players are establishing a new Army tradition by their clean-sweep in the women’s competition at the 2005 Interservice Australian Rules carnival.

Held in crisp autumn conditions at Canberra’s Manuka Oval from April 15-19, the event marked the second year the women had turned out and the second win for the women in red.

They defeated Air Force 0-0-0 to 12-8-80 and Navy 2-2-14 to 11-11-76 in the hard-fought final of the three-way match series, which determined the ADF’s champion women’s team. However, the scores do not fairly reflect the high standard of skill and courage displayed by the women of all three services in this burgeoning competition.

High Op tempo had meant many of Navy and Air Force’s best players were unavailable, while many of Army’s best have played together since 1998.

Army had been identified as the team to beat before the competition began and they didn’t fail their many supporters.

Team coach WO2 Kim Beasland said that some of the success came from the set plays and game plan, to which the girls had to work.

“In some cases that was foreign to them,” he said, “but they picked it up very well in training. The training week was the best I’ve seen and the first game [against Air Force] gave them the first time to practice it on a real-time basis.

With Air Force out of contention Army red and Navy blue took to the paddock at midday on April 19 for the final that would determine the 2005 champions.

Both teams had much riding on the outcome. For Army, it was the opportunity to take the laurels for the second year and start a new tradition to mirror the men’s 18-year run.

The hooter sounded and Navy’s chances looked good as they slammed home two goals in the first 10 minutes. However, as the 15-minute quarters unfolded Army’s experience showed as they dominated the game.

The game was fast, the play spirited and strong and neither side was prepared to give an inch of turf unchallenged.

Army’s experience showed early, and by the end of the first quarter held a commanding lead of 4-3-27 over Navy’s 2-13.

The second quarter continued Army’s march and at the hooter they had increased their lead to 8-4-52 while Navy added a behind for their final score of 2-14. The third quarter ended with Army at 9-8-62.

The fourth quarter and despite the disparity Navy weren’t going to yield and their more defensive game plan ensured that Army would add only two more goals to the score.

Army walked away victors at 11-11-77 to Navy 2-2-14. Team captain, Capt Jada Bendall, was very pleased with her team’s performance.

“We concentrated on our game plan,” she said.

“We tried to focus on our positions on the field and stick to those.

“The scores didn’t reflect the tenacity of both teams, but by holding our positions we kept control of the game and that’s what helped us at the scoreboard. Now, we are going to aim for three in a row.”

Navy captain AS Candice Freeman complemented Army on their victory.

“Army is always a quality team,” she said.

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