Diorites show off defensive wizardry in victory against reigning GFWL premiers

Mines Rovers’ convincing win against defending Goldfields Football League women’s premiers Kalgoorlie last Saturday was marred by a long-term injury to Irish recruit Niahm Daly.

After holding Kambalda scoreless a week earlier, the Diorites repeated it against the two-time reigning GFLW premiers while themselves piling on 8.15 (63).

It included three goals in each of the first and last quarters, and Chanelle Halligan starred up forward with four majors.

Mines Rovers coach Quinny Matla, however, said Daly’s broken arm robbed the competition of a naturally talented player — possibly for the rest of the season.

Despite being new to Australian Rules, Daly was coming off a three-goal haul in round two against Kambalda.

“She’s fresh off the boat from Ireland and I was personally so excited to see just what she could bring to the competition,” Matla said.

“Unfortunately, she’s probably cooked for the season after breaking her arm in two places and is in Perth for surgery.

“She came out here as a school teacher, we picked her up and as we all know, the Irish tend to pick up our game so quickly.

“I rated her as a great recruit, just from what I’d seen of her at training as an exciting, powerhouse of a player.

“Unfortunately we don’t get to see that now.”

Daly’s three goals against Kambalda were off a wing, but her athleticism prompted Matla to move her into the midfield against Kalgoorlie.

“She’s devastated because the one thing she was looking forward to was playing out a full season here (in the GFLW) and having a real crack at it,” Matla said.

“ But they (injuries) are part of our game.”

Mines Rovers dominated last weekend’s clash with 3.8 to quarter-time, but Malta said he was concerned that early inaccuracy might cost them later in the game.

“We’ll do a bit of work in front of goals (at training) this week ,” he said.

“Even the game before, 20 behinds (among a score of 14.20) wasn’t exactly value for effort.

“If we can tidy-up that accuracy, we’ll be putting teams away for sure.”

The Diorites have won back-to-back matches following a round one defeat against Boulder that Malta said had stunned the group into action.

“It was a wake-up call for the girls who started last season so well,” he said.

“No doubt it was a reality check (but) sometimes it’s good to have those.”

Mines Rovers have a bye this weekend before taking on first-placed Railways on May 4.