Women’s football in the Territory has received a massive boost with four local girls selected to represent the NT for the first time at the Under 18 Youth Girls’ Championship in Adelaide.
Left: SA/NT Youth Girls Representatives Sheradene Solien’Senge (Nightcliff), Shaan Mitchell (St Mary’s), Derrylin Puruntatameri (Waratah) and AFLNT Regional Development Manager Darwin/Female Projects Jessica Murphy at the U18 Youth Girls’ Championship in Adelaide.
Right: Shannon Ponter (St Mary’s) in action for SA during the Championship.
Held from Tuesday 15-Saturday 19 May, St Mary’s duo Shannon Ponter and Shaan Mitchell along with Sheradene Solien’Senge (Nightcliff) and Derrylin Puruntatameri (Waratah) joined the South Australian side for a tournament against Victoria, Victoria Development, Queensland/Papua New Guinea, Western Australia and NSW/ACT.
AFLNT Regional Development Manager Darwin/Female Projects Jessica Murphy said it was a great learning experience both personally and professionally for the girls.
"The girls related well to the SA team and as the week went on they became popular members of the group on and off the field," said Murphy.
"Each girl brought a unique skill set to the team and demonstrated the great competitive spirit and ferocious attack on the ball that NT footy has become synonymous with,"
Murphy also commented that the addition of the NT girls to the SA squad was a great opportunity to be exposed to the high performance sporting environment.
"The two Victorian squads are elite and are developed through high performance academies and programs,"
"It was great for the girls to get a taste of that environment and with the Michael Long Learning and Leadership Academy soon to be built, future NT representatives can match it with the best in the country,"
SA/NT lost its opening encounter to Victoria by 76 points at City Mazda Stadium before accounting for the Victorian Development Squad by 41 points in Game Two.
Game Three pitted the SA/NT girls against the QLD/Papua New Guinea combined squad, losing an entertaining contest by 22 points at Unleash Solar Oval.
The results put SA/NT into the 3rd place play-off against Western Australia at Thebarton Oval with the girls proving no match for the Sandgropers in a 63-point thrashing.
Despite the disappointing results for the SA/NT squad, Murphy said that the NT girls had performed extremely well during the Championship.
"At the beginning of the tournament the girls were mostly being used off the bench and as matches progressed they were rewarded for their efforts by starting on the ground in key positions," said Murphy.
"Shannon Ponter was in the best three players every time she took the ground, Shaan Mitchell improved in every game she played, Derrylin Puruntatameri showed off silky skills when she had the ball and Sheradene Solien’Senge won a lot of praise for her ability to put her body on the line and demonstrate great skill and courage,"
"We were very pleased with the girls performance as the Championship progressed and hope that this is the start of even greater things for girls and women’s footy in the Territory".
AFL Female Football Development Manager Jan Cooper congratulated the NT girls on their presence and performance at the Championship.
"Despite the fact that the girls had missed the SA training sessions due to travel, they made a seamless transition into the SA side and the skill level on display was very high," said Ms Cooper.
"It was clear that they enjoyed the large, dry tracks in Adelaide and Shannon Ponter was particularly outstanding in the first two games,"
"They tired slightly on the final days of the Championship and struggled a bit in the wet but it is clear that women’s football in the Territory is on the rise and is receiving fantastic support from AFLNT and local NTFL clubs".