SWFL women’s: Harvey Bulls continue unbeaten start to season with 58-point victory over Donnybrook

Harvey Bulls continued their unbeaten start to the South West Football League women’s season on Sunday with a 58-point win over Donnybrook at Boyanup Oval. The Dons produced a competitive effort in an at-times ill-tempered affair but could not match the quality of the ladder leaders, who won their sixth consecutive game in the 11.8 (74) to 2.4 (16) result. Both teams first remonstrated after Bulls midfielder Sierraleone Simpson was claimed in a strong bump in the third term and they came together again in the last following a high tackle, with a Donnybrook player sent from the field for pulling a Harvey opponent to the ground in the fracas. Another strong victory saw the Bulls’ percentage improve further to an imposing 549.09, having scored 302 points while conceding only 55 this season. Trinity Brown opened the afternoon in brilliant fashion for the visitors, snapping their first goal of the day early in the opening term before launching a long bomb across the goal-line for their second. The first term ended with the Bulls being beaten by the siren after a long kick from Brown found Caitlin Shales in the goal-square, but Shales got on the scoreboard by pinning a Don holding the ball and slotting the ensuing set shot at the start of the second quarter. A set shot from Lacey Holdsworth and a soccered effort from Skye Dalton gave the Dons their first two goals of the day but the Bulls restored their one-goal buffer through an after-the-siren goal from Emma Faulkner. After the main break, Shales began to take the game apart, busting through traffic and kicking truly for her second before fending off a would-be tackler and rolling home her third to boost Harvey’s three-quarter-time advantage out to 27 points. With a win all but secure, the Bulls rammed home their advantage in the last, with Brown and Shales capping off their great days with late goals to give them a combined total of nine on the day.