Grand final glory for AJAX girls
Celebrating their 50th games, Annabel Naphtali and Tahlia Hermann led the AJAX girls through a special banner, cheered on by a large crowd.
AJAX Junior Football Club won a third 2024 SMJFL premiership last Sunday when their U16 division 3 girls’ Comets side rose to the challenge of outlasting determined opponent Cheltenham in an epic contest at Murrumbeena Park.
Celebrating their 50th games, Annabel Naphtali and Tahlia Hermann led the AJAX girls through a special banner, cheered on by a large crowd.
The game began with high intensity in blustery conditions, and the first two quarters were defined by excellent defence by both sides, and constant battles for possession and field position.
The Comets girls worked hard to thwart several goal scoring opportunities by Cheltenham’s forwards by getting numbers at every contest.
With a slender half-time lead of four behinds to two, the AJAX players spoke about not letting the opportunity to create a lifelong memory get away from them, and set out to stamp their authority on the match.
They lifted immediately in the third quarter, and excellent teamwork in attack rewarded them with two amazing goals, kicked by Tahlia Hermann, increasing their lead to 18-3.
To their credit, Cheltenham fought back by keeping the Comets scoreless in the last quarter, while scoring an early goal and three behinds to reduce their deficit to just six points.
St Bedes-Mentone.
Desperate defence continued to serve the AJAX girls well, but there was still one last nervous moment to come.
Cheltenham were awarded a free kick after the full-time siren, about 30m out near the boundary, and a goal would have tied the scores … but they missed, sealing a premiership title for the Comets, who had dominated the regular season, winning eight of their nine games.
AJAX coach Phil Goldberg and assistant coach Yael Alford congratulated their troops for a well-deserved grand final triumph.
“What a game, what a season, what a great team effort and what a great bunch of girls,” Goldberg said.
Two AJAX boys’ teams also battled hard in grand finals last Sunday, but finished runners-up.
The AJAX Stars took on the Caulfield Bears in a top-quality first versus second U15 boys’ division 5 decider, in which scores were level at 15-all at the main break, with the Stars’ majors scored by Asher Katz and returning star Josh Gordon.
Kicking against the wind in the third quarter proved a real challenge for the Stars, who only managed a behind, while the Bears booted a goal and six behinds to lead by 11 points.
Caulfield increased their lead early in the last quarter with a spate of behinds, but the AJAX boys fought back quickly with a contender for goal of the year, when Hugo Waisman’s accurate kick from the boundary sailed through for a major, and then Asher Rose kicked a terrific goal form outside 50.
But time ran out, and Caulfield prevailed 3.15 (33) to 4.5 (29).
Nevertheless, the Stars can be proud of their performance and for topping the regular season ladder with 10 wins and just two losses.
The AJAX Comets U18 boys’ division 1 side can also feel proud of being minor premiers and remaining undefeated throughout the regular season, even though their grand final opponents, the St Bedes-Mentone Tigers, proved too good for them on grand final day, defeating them 10.7 (67) to 3.8 (26).
Bailey Nussbaum kicked two of their goals and Hugo Krasnostein the other.
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