Jackettes crush Canterbury in round one

AJAX’S women’s team was the Jewish club’s shining light in the opening round of the 2022 VAFA footy season last weekend, recording a dominant 8.9 (57) to 1.2 (8) away win over Canterbury in Division 2.

Freshly promoted up a division, the Jackettes faced Canterbury for the first time, and were fielding a match day squad with five debutants – Romy Klooger, Ariella Goldman, Romi Amira, Jess Newitt and Nat Gabriel.

As such, coach Joe Nankin gave his players the round one theme of ‘first impressions’, and asked them to play with intent “from the outset, and hopefully set the scene for this game, as well as potentially the season”.

They responded, with Klooger booting the first goal, and key defenders Justine Gabriel, Hayley Mrocki, Daniella Abraham and Mikaela Grek helping to restrict Canterbury to just one goal, their only goal of the match.

The wet and windy conditions, and some inaccurate kicking, saw the Jackettes only add 2 more goals by half-time.

But they got better as the match progressed, scoring another 5 goals, as their new midfield combination of sisters Julie and Annelise Caplan, Jess Marget, Samantha Diamond and Amira began to click.

Kate Taylor, Klooger, Gabriel and Marget scored 2 goals each.

Special mention was made for Goldman, who switched to an unfamiliar role in the ruck, and played well. The Jackettes play Oakleigh this Saturday from 9.20am at Holmes-Todd Oval.

In men’s footy, all three AJAX teams lost in the first round against quality opponents.

In Premier B grade versus the Melbourne University Blacks, the Jackas also fielded five senior footy debutants – Maor Chrapot, Jake Wrobel, Sam Jacobs, Ben Schauder and Hutch Davis – who offered great energy and pace.

They were able to match Uni in the first quarter, trailing only 13-20, but struggled there-on to contain their potent attack.

While they lost 4.3 (27) to 15.11 (101), a green shoot was Schauder and Davis booting two goals each, and strong tackling by Richie Simon and Charlie Hamilton.

The Jackas will take on Fitzroy this Saturday from 2pm at Elsternwick Park.

Ten members of AJAX’s development team debuted in a 3.2 (20) to 20.16 (136) loss to Uni Blacks, and seven players debuted for AJAX’s Sunday Thirds team, which fell 2.7 (19) to 17.10 (112) against Old Xaverians.