Cherie Charles was influential through the midfield for Berwick in its 46-point win over St Kilda. 84216 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
THE Berwick Hawks hunted down the St Kilda Saints to take a solid 46-point win and put a difficult month behind them.
Berwick, suffering badly under an ever-mounting injury list, forged ahead through its young brigade on the goalmouth – Bianca Jakobsson added four to her season tally and Shae Frazer bagged two in her second senior match.
The match was all but over at three quarter time when the rain started to fall, but St Kilda made a good fight of it, kicking three goals to reel in the margin.
“It was a good win. It’s been a fairly tough time for the club in the last month with injuries and the girls stood up pretty well,” Berwick coach Shaun Smith said.
“Late in the game they (St Kilda) got a couple of goals but I was pretty happy with the girls over all.”
Smith was impressed by the standout performance of his star ruckman Ash Fennell, while Romy Timmins and Cherie Charles continued their tireless work in-and-under every pack.
The biggest praise came for 16-year-old goal-sneak Frazer, who has made the most of the injury chaos at the Hawks to earn her spot in the seniors.
“Shae kicking a couple of goals is a highlight as she’s only 16,” Smith said.
“She’s a young girl and has only played two games but we wanted to give her a chance to see how she’d go.
“There’s not much of her but she definitely knows how to get the ball.”
The Hawks will look to make it back-to-back wins as they take on ladder-languishing Scoresby on Sunday, but with their injury list still piled high and deep Smith isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Got a few girls that won’t play again this year – time is against them,” Smith said.
“We don’t really get many back, but we’re just going to have to fight it out until the end of the year.
“We’d like to think we have a chance of winning the game but Scoresby is playing some really good footy, so we’ve got to come out and play our best footy to win.”
The Hawks are holding a sportsman’s night on Saturday 28 July at 7.30pm at the Berwick clubrooms. Guests include four former AFL players – Terry Daniher, Russell Robertson, Ronnie Burns and the Berwick coach Smith.
Tickets cost $45 with finger food and drinks at bar prices, and are available through the club. For more information call Cherie Charles on 0430 507 707.
