SWFL: Harvey Bulls women’s side starts 2025 with seven-point victory over Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault

Harvey Bulls started their South West Football League women’s season with a seven-point win over Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault at Brunswick Oval on Saturday. The Bulls will be seeking redemption in 2025, having finished last season as minor premiers before crashing out of the finals in straight sets with losses to Bunbury and Busselton. And they were issued a firm challenge by an improved Lions line-up in their first game of the year but were able to ensure they started in positive fashion, claiming a 2.4 (16) to 1.3 (9) result. In a forward line without last season’s leading goal-kicker Caitlin Shales, Emma Faulkner stepped up for the Bulls, kicking both of their goals, while some of their other stalwarts in Emma Angi, Jenna Bloom and Sophie Marino produced strong performances. The Lions ended up on the wrong end of the result but will be buoyed by the performances of several of their young guns. Dakota Sexton — who represented WA’s under-18 side at last year’s national championships but has been cleared back to the Lions from Peel Thunder — gave a big indication of her talents alongside Kaitlyn Turner and Julie Geurtjens, who are making their early forays into senior football. After a goalless first term, Faulkner was able to get the Bulls on the scoreboard but Ella Caldwell was able to respond for the hosts to ensure they headed for the main break trailing by only a solitary point. It was Faulkner’s second major in the third term which would prove decisive, bolstering the Bulls’ advantage beyond a goal at the final interval. Despite the best efforts of both sides, neither were able to register a score in a tense final term, allowing the visitors to hold on for the win.