The AFL Central West's women's competition broke new ground in their debut match over the weekend at Shoalhaven, but their young counterparts managed to take out the representative championships.
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The Youth Girls' claimed a 3.1.19 to 1.4.10 win over Illawarra to stake the Central West's claims as one of the stronger northern NSW women's leagues on the back of the win.
Coach Luke Le Page said composure and midfield control were the two big factors in the side's win, with the 2018 runners-up not expecting to challenge with a younger, more development-focused squad.
However, winning the ball out of the middle crucial to overturning the two-point Illawarra win from the two sides' match in the pool stage and claiming the crown.
"Tegan Germach and Anna McPherson controlled the ruck and gave us first use," he said.
Le Page said the result showed women's Aussie rules was strong in the Central West.
"We've shown with the youth girls and some of the juniors we can really match them and the women's team coming up against such a strong competition shows how good we can be," he said.
Having the women's game on before the youth girls' grand final was "inspiring", Le Page said.
"The fact it was such a high-quality clash and they were able to see some of those positional things, setting up behind the ball and things we've drilled them on but until they really see them in action they might not pick up on," he said.
The under-13, under-15 and under-17 boys also took to the field, but none of the sides came away with a win in published results.
AFL Central West 3.1.19 (Germech 1, McRae 1, Rozga 1) defeated Illawarra 1.4.10
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