Year 5 and Year 6 girls from St Patricks are feeling the excitement ahead of their games in Wagga for the next round of the Paul Kelly Cup.
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After coming away on top at the AFL Gala Day against teams from across Southern Riverina and the MIA region, St Patricks now face all the sub-regional and regional winners from Southern NSW in Wagga on Monday
Acting Captain Emmerson Waide and team member Tannaya Jones were pleased with how the team played on the Gala day, and are ready to test their mettle at the next stage.
“We thought our team was good before starting, but then when we actually started playing, we were better than we realised,” Emmerson said.
The girls said some of the other teams had really strong players, however their team had strengths of their own.
“The competition was really tough,” Tannaya said.
“Some were really tall and strong, and they had some pretty good kickers who could kick the ball pretty far,” Emmerson said.
“But we passed really well to each other, and ended up really working well as a team,” Tannaya said.
St Patricks teacher and Coach Anna Bordignon, also an AFL School Ambassador, has been conducting training sessions during lunchtimes and said it was a “fantastic” experience for team.
“I am super proud of the girls!” Bordignon said.
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“I wasn’t expecting them to come away with any wins because the girls had never played together before, so to actually go, compete and win our four pool games and then win the final by one point is a massive achievement.”
She says the focus now is looking at passing, picking the ball up, holding on to it and then passing it to a team member.
“We are pretty excited. We are looking forward to going to the next level for AFL,” Tannaya said.
“We wish all the other teams who will be there on Monday good luck.”
If the St Patricks team win on Monday, they will head to Sydney for the Paul Kelly Cup finals in August.