Although what transpired was a comfortable 3-0 win for Canberra City, Palerang coach Mark Roberts was pleased with the fight that his side showed against the joint highest-scoring side in the competition. 

“Our strategy was to try and make ‘em shoot from outside the box,” Roberts said. 

“We did that, the only times that they didn’t have to was when it was one-on-one situations when they picked us apart.

“I was hopeful that they wouldn’t cotton on to that idea, but they did twice and it worked.” 

To finish sixth in the Division Three competition was a strong result for Palerang. The team won the Division Four grand final in 2017, however in the off-season they lost several key players and were significantly weakened coming into 2018. 

“The girls have always played for each other, so it’s really pleasing,” Roberts said. 

“We finished sixth, [and] considering some of the games that we’ve lost this year that we should’ve won … if we had our best squad on the park every week, we’d be matching it with most teams.

“I knew it was going to be tough this year because I knew other players were actually moving away from us … to different sports as well as different divisions.

“I’ve got a team here that’s potentially half Div Five, half Div Four, and we’re playing Div Three. So we’re doing alright.” 

Palerang finished with six wins, two draws, and nine losses from their 17 matches this year. 

Their wins included a strong 4-3 victory over third-ranked Cooma early in the year, and many of their subsequent losses to the top sides were often decided by no more than one or two goals. 

In the lead up to next season, Roberts intends to begin recruiting as early as possible. 

“I just want the girls to focus on communicating with each other,” Roberts said. 

“This is a true Palerang side in the sense, geographically, there’s a few girls from Bungendore, a few from Braidwood, I’ve got one … she’s in Tarago.”