Welcome to another edition of Tah Talk with Joel Foster. This week we take a look at the Ford family, the continued excellence of our Brewers side, and W1s win on Sunday afternoon.
A big thank you to Scott MacNeill and the team at Gibson MacNeill Lawyers for their new partnership with this season. If you have any legal needs big or small, visit them at www.gibsonmacneill.com.au
Ford sisters continue family fame
We always like to refer to our club as a family. Well, the Ford sisters are taking the one step further.
Saoirse Ford has played for the Waratahs for a number of seasons, debuting in Brewer Shield in 2023/24 and rising to 2nd Grade this season.
But the 17-year-old has now been joined in our playing ranks by her sister Teghan.
Still only 15, Teghan herself is coming through the Brewer Shield ranks as a no-nonsense opening bowler.
The club has had many fantastic brother combinations. The Pitcher boys, the Evans boys, and the Baker boys to name a few.
It’s fantastic to see this continuing with the girls with not only the Ford sister, but also the Croll sisters and Punter sisters.
But what makes Saoirse and Teghan special is their dad, David.
‘Fordy’ played 14 seasons for the Waratahs from 1984-85 onwards, amassing 5,281 runs at an average just below 30.
He coached Saoirse and Teghan in the junior years and is still seen supporting them at games.
I love the family connections at our club. Long may it continue.
Brewers continue to rise
The continued excellence of our Brewer Shield side continues to amaze me.
They have been Grand Finalists for the last 2 years, suffering heartbreaking defeats (for different reasons) in both games.
But they have shrugged off the disappointment and come back out this season to show they are one of the teams to beat.
They are undefeated through the first 5 rounds.
We have sung the praises of coach Bill McLerie previously in these pages, but he still does not get enough accolades for the time, effort and expertise he puts in to the girls.
However, it’s the players that need to take most of the wraps.
Matilda Brown is a player to watch, Yuhansa Jayakody has already shown her star quality, and Grace Pike showed on Sunday she hits the ball as well as anyone.
Keira Terrey scores runs for fun, and Edie Gillett is only getting better behind the stumps.
They are rounded out well via the leadership of Captain Daisy Addison.
It’s too early to predict how their season will play out, but I have no doubt that they will continue fighting all season.
W1s get it done
It was fantastic to see W1s turn things around on Sunday to win their second game of the double headers at Manly Oval.
I have no doubt they would have been disappointed with the result of their first game, soundly beaten by Bankstown.
So heading into game 2 it would have been easy for them to keep their heads down.
But instead, they summoned all their fight to come away with a victory over the St George-Sutherland Slayers.
I especially want to call out Kaya Punter for her match-winning innings. Kaya is a class player but has been a little down on luck so far this season.
However, she paced her innings beautifully on Sunday, hitting 33* to get her team into a super over. This included 6 runs off the final 2 balls to get the tie.
She then dominated in our batting over to help us to 0/14, which ended up being enough to secure the victory.
Hopefully it’s a victory that we can build on heading into Christmas.
