Report by Torben Fink-Jensen

So, finals season begins! Essendon have been building up to full strength for finals, although we will be without Maria and Mietta who are both overseas for finals. We still managed to put 13 players in the pool for the 1st vs 2nd game. Richmond had the opposite problem, being hit by Schoolies meaning they could only muster 6 players. They still boast one of the best goalies in the comp though so we would have to be on our game to bring it home.

Emily started with winning the swim up as usual. The game seesawed to 2-2, but their defensive approach was clear - leave Emily unmarked on the wing and hope she couldn't score. She then scored two goals within a few minutes meaning they had to change their plans. This allowed us, along with an expertly taken penalty by Alex, to cruise out to 5-2.

Richmond weren't giving up, and Essendon was giving up a few kick outs which meant we opted to sub in some players. The game went out to 8-5 before we had a period of no scoring for 3 minutes. Richmond were tiring though. This showed up in the thrid quarter where we had many more free opportunities to swim the ball up the pool and set up for goal chances. Richmond continued to defend well however. We were also defending well and Katie was leaping around the cage to keep the ball out. We scored 2 goals in the third to make it 10-5. Unfortunately for Richmond, in the last passage of play they had a player rolled, which meant they were playing with 5 for the last quarter.

In the final term we had the luxury of a spare player always at the other end. This gave us a few more opportunities but Richmond closed down their attack to keep players in defence. Katie was left having to make a few saves or long shots but otherwise all the action was at the Richmond end. Richmond's goalie was able to thwart a lot of the chances, but we still added 3 goals with Emily adding another 2 to hit a record 6 goals. Amazing what happens when you haven't had 2 training sessions before the game... well done Emily!

Essendon defeated Monash : 13 - 5  Goals : Emily 6, Emmy 2, Phoebe 2, Alex 1, Denise 1, Kyrene 1

BELOW : WSL2 semi-finals game action at MelbHigh pool (photos by Torben Fink-Jensen, more on our FB page)

Report by Marcus Jones

The Essendon boys finished in the top 2 so received the privilege of playing on a Saturday afternoon in a cold, dingy, dark pool without a male change room – its great to be back at old Melbourne High School! The Saturday game caught Ambrose out as he organised his wedding to his latest tinder flame on this Saturday! But the Reliables were there. Sure the Reliables don’t have the flashy Millsy backhands or the fancy Silver Fox swimming but the Reliables have lots of presence and great work ethic.

This was always going to be a hard game with a lot of firepower missing from the team but the Reliables were up for the challenge. We all committed to disciplined water polo before the first whistle and if I am being honest – we had some items to clean up after the first quarter. And we responded – scoring 2 goals in the 2nd quarter to get the scoreline back to 2-2. After half time it turned into a grind with both teams focusing on defence however the Reliables were starting to tire. The last quarter had Geelong turning the screws and unfortunately the Reliables didn’t have an answer despite working incredibly hard. Well done to all the team – Felix was awesome, young Sam swam hard all day and Michael Venosta excelled in centre forward. Andrew Cover scored a beautiful goal and I expect he is still telling his family all about it.

The silver lining is - we get to play again Thursday with a few players back.

Essendon were defeated by Geelong : 3 - 8 Goals : Andrew 1, Marcus 1, Michael 1