On a dry overcast afternoon in Glen Iris, in what Renegade veterans were calling “perfect footy conditions”, the Renegades reserves lined up for their first finals encounter in an elimination semi against St Mary’s.

Captain Laura Jones led the team out to huge applause and cheers from a strong Renegade support contingent.

St Mary’s, a youthful and speedy team, hit the board early, making the most of their chances as they kicked with the breeze. The Renegades fought hard and had a few opportunities but were unlucky in front of goal.

The backline were super solid all day, with Ash tough and tenacious and silky skilled duo Sarah Gregg and Jessica Price excellent. Play of the Day undoubtedly came from the fast and classy “JP”. As a St Mary’s player pinned the ears back and found a paddock from the wing into their forward 50, the slight JP ran her down and laid a superstar tackle, bundling her over the line in what would have otherwise been another scoring shot.

There were plenty of other standout performances, with ruck Eliza running herself to a standstill, Grace presenting all over the ground, and Bridge huge in the contests. There were some huge amounts of run and defensive efforts from Anna and Alana Schmidty Smith on the wings.

Despite some very unlucky bounces and not cracking the goals, these huge performances showed the Renegades brought spirit and fight, and walked away with some very improved players and a motivated team ready to give ’em hell in 2019.

JP had a cracker game in front of a loud purple army

Schmidty lines up after a strong mark

Ash is consoled by Reno pup Wally