Evado Studios Women’s Match Report: Back-to-Back and Building
Sometimes you learn more about a team from how they handle the last twenty minutes than from the first seventy. On a soggy afternoon at Keilor Park Recreation Reserve, with planes rumbling overhead and the rain refusing to let up, Essendon Royals went out and did what the preview asked them to do. They backed it up.
Two wins in a row for the first time this season. It sounds simple enough, but for a side that spent the opening month stuck in a win-loss-win-loss loop, stringing results together has been the missing piece. After dismantling Avondale 3-1 in what felt like the Royals’ most complete performance of the campaign, the question was always going to be whether Round 7 would follow the pattern or break it. Consider it broken.
The tone was set inside seven minutes. Kelli McGroarty, back from suspension and clearly in no mood to ease herself in, delivered a hanging cross from the right that found Isabella Sewards rising unmarked at the back post. The header was perfectly timed, the kind of finish that makes you wonder how the defence left her that much space. Sewards peeled away, the travelling supporters behind the goal let out a roar that carried across the wet turf, and the Royals were in front before Keilor Park had time to settle.
From there, the Royals’ 4-3-3 press was relentless. Ava Groba was the chief menace, tormenting the Keilor Park left side with direct running and dangerous deliveries. Her cross on 28 minutes was so good it didn’t even need a Royals boot on the end of it. Hunter Gercovich, sliding in to clear, could only divert the ball into her own net. Harsh on Gercovich, who was doing the right thing, but that is what happens when you put crosses into dangerous areas often enough. Credit to Groba for creating the chaos.
It could have been three or four before the break. Keilor Park keeper Maggie Byrne pulled off a string of saves that kept her side in the contest, and you got the sense she was the main reason the scoreline stayed manageable. When Emilia Ingles headed home from a second-phase set piece on 38 minutes to make it 2-1, the home crowd found some belief. The Royals went into the sheds knowing the job was only half done.
Whatever was said at the interval worked. McGroarty, who has been nothing short of clinical whenever she has been available this season, scored on 57 minutes to restore the two-goal cushion. That is six goals in six games when she has been on the pitch. The numbers speak for themselves. With Akeisha Sandhu serving a suspension, others needed to step up, and McGroarty answered that call emphatically.
Runa Komidori pulled one back on 70 minutes with a 30-yard lob over Zara Board to make it 3-2, and the final twenty minutes became a different game entirely.
Keilor Park, newly promoted and riding the confidence of that stunning Round 5 win over Melbourne Victory, threw everything at the Royals. The conditions made it scrappy. The pitch was cutting up, the ball was holding in puddles, and there was a worrying injury stoppage late on for a Royals player in the box. But the defence held firm. Emma Langley marshalled the back line before making way for Sasha Coorey on 61 minutes, and the Royals absorbed wave after wave without truly looking like cracking.
It finished 3-2. Not the most comfortable afternoon, but comfortable enough. The Royals move to seventh on 12 points, up from ninth, with four wins from seven. The win-loss pattern is gone. Back-to-back wins are here. And with McGroarty firing, Groba causing havoc, and Sewards finding the net, this group is starting to look like one that can climb the table.
Next week, the Royals go again.
Forza Royals!
Keilor Park 2-3 Essendon Royals NPLW Victoria Round 7 | Saturday 28 March 2026 | Keilor Park Recreation Reserve