Sharks show their teeth
AN AFLW All-Australian forward in the backline and forwards in the midfield.
So great was Bond University’s dominance in its round-9 clash against Wilston Grange that Bull Sharks coach Luke Mansbridge was spotted shuffling his magnets at three-quarter time — including stationing goal sneak Kalinda Howarth down back.
Bond led from start to finish on Sunday at the canal to win 79-14 win, allowing the Bull Sharks to show off their flexibility in the dying stages.
“We spent the last quarter trying a few different things,” Mansbridge said. “It freshens them up and gets them ready for what’s coming.
“It’s a good experiment to have so we have flexibility but most girls tend to realise they have a favourite position.
“Early on we took control and that’s how it ended; it didn’t change.”
Despite winning by 65 points, Mansbridge believes his side will still be battleready come finals in three weeks.
Bond faces current topfour sides Coorparoo and Yeronga South Brisbane in the run home.
“We’ll work out exactly where we are going into the first final,” Mansbridge said.
Bond has one of the most dangerous forward lines in the competition and had seven different players hit the scoreboard, including Brisbane Lions AFLW recruit Taylor Smith who finished with four goals. Meanwhile, in QFAW Division One action Burleigh conjured the perfect dose of grand final revenge with an 11-4 victory over Kedron on Saturday.
In 2019, Kedron came from nowhere to defeat Burleigh by four points in a thrilling decider.
But on their home deck, the Bombettes turned the tables in a low-scoring but physical affair.
“It was a do or die game for us,” coach Brent Male said.
“It was good to get a bit of revenge and we spoke about it during the week but we more so wanted to bounce back from our loss (58-19) against Morningside the week prior.
“We’re almost hoping to adopt that Kedron model from last season because they were out of finals with a few games to go but then went on a roll and did some serious damage in finals.”
Male expects to regain a handful of injured players in coming weeks.