The Brunswick Renegades took to the Gillon Oval for the first time ever on Saturday up against the experienced Melbourne University Division 5 team. Excitement was at fever pitch as the girls ran out to riotous applause from the assembled junior and pub footballers who were in attendance as they got to see their new favourite team for the first time ever.

The nerves were high at the opening bounce, as coaches Barlow and Pentreath shuffled their charges across the field to disperse the experience across all areas of the field. There were a number of first gamers who all took to the game like a duck to water. The highly touted German superstar Isabelle Hermann started in the ruck and very quickly showed why the recruiting staff had put such effort into signing her early in the pre-season as she won contest after contest. The first quarter was a tense struggle as through their experience, the Uni Blues managed to stretch away to a single goal lead.

The second quarter and the discipline and fitness of the Brunswick girls started to influence the match with players starting to win their positions all over the ground. Kelly Law and Mel Doria on the wings showed the dash a 1940s Morse code operator would have been proud of, while the backline led by Amy Middleton (Moo) dug in to keep the visitors to a single point for the quarter. Meanwhile at the other end of the ground, the forwards started to settle down and goal kick practice finally paid off with Renegades kicking 1 goal 5 for the quarter to take the lead. Once again the German Superstar led the way with a towering grab in the forward pocket and converted truly.

The second half with the wind picking up presented new challenges for a slightly underdone Renegades as fitness and skills started to become more vulnerable as fatigue started to kick in. Luckily Mel Kolinski, Chloe Woodhouse and Jess Craig discovered talent long since forgotten in a past life, and the newer players rallied to keep the ball trapped in the forward line for most of the quarter. The Renegades managed to with the quarter as the dam walls burst open by kicking 2 points to 1. At this stage the pub footballers had begun to assemble and each bump, kick, tackle and handpass generated echoes around the stadium from the encapsulated fans. The waft of BBQ and stale beer coming from the pub league players was more than enough to encourage the girls onwards.

The final quarter and the menacing training on a Thursday night ensures that the Renegades were able to skip away to a comfortable win. Chloe Horner and Jess Craig sealed it with 2 goals in the last quarter to one final goal on the siren to University. A stirring effort all round and something the club can build the season on moving forward.

Goals: Izzy, Chloe, Jess
Best: Mel, Izzy, Chloes, Jungles, Kel