	{"id":113509,"date":"2025-04-19T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=113509"},"modified":"2025-04-16T17:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T07:59:12","slug":"saints-strive-for-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints strive for sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST MARY&#8217;S coach Alf Della Monica says the club&#8217;s female program is booming, as the Saints look to secure their second victory of the AFL Barwon Senior Female Division 1 season.<\/p>\n<p>He said the club had about 230 players across the whole program with strong junior numbers and 54 in the senior group.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s in a really healthy state and a sustainable program we&#8217;ve got.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we pride ourselves on and that&#8217;s how we&#8217;re just going to keep building.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said the Division 2 side featured a host of new players to the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It shows that we&#8217;re a bit of a destination club,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Saints have been working on their spread from contest and delivery into the forward line ahead of tomorrow&#8217;s (Saturday, April 19) round two clash with Anglesea at Ellimatta Reserve at 4.45pm.<\/p>\n<p>St Mary&#8217;s beat Barwon Heads 7.17 (59) to 1.0 (6) in round 1 with St Joseph&#8217;s recruit Bella Gilham booting three goals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our pressure was great and our skills were really good and that&#8217;s one thing we&#8217;re working on, our skills by foot,&#8221; Della Monica said.<\/p>\n<p>The coach noted the Saints had 13 different players in the team compared to their eight-point elimination final loss to the Seagulls last year.<\/p>\n<p>The mix features recruits, players who have recovered from injuries and former juniors.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Torquay host Barwon Heads today (Friday, April 18) at 5pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST MARY&#8217;S coach Alf Della Monica says the club&#8217;s female program is booming, as the Saints look to secure their second victory of the AFL Barwon Senior Female Division 1 season. He said the club had about 230 players across the whole program with strong junior numbers and 54 in the senior group. &#8220;It&#8217;s in [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":113510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-113509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"St Mary&#039;s AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"St Mary&#039;s AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brian Allen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7\"},\"headline\":\"Saints strive for sustainability\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":238,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/\",\"name\":\"Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"St Mary's AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"St Mary's are chasing their second win of the season. Photo: SUPPLIED\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/sport\\\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saints strive for sustainability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Geelong Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Geelong Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/times_logo_1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/times_logo_1.png\",\"width\":248,\"height\":37,\"caption\":\"Geelong Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7\",\"name\":\"Brian Allen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Allen\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/author\\\/brian\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times","description":"St Mary's AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times","og_description":"St Mary's AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/","og_site_name":"Geelong Times","article_published_time":"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brian Allen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Allen","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/"},"author":{"name":"Brian Allen","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7"},"headline":"Saints strive for sustainability","datePublished":"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/"},"wordCount":238,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg","articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/","name":"Saints strive for sustainability - Geelong Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-18T18:00:00+00:00","description":"St Mary's AFL Program is thriving with strong player numbers. Coach Alf Della Monica focuses on growth and success this season.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/04\/Untitled-design-2-2.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"St Mary's are chasing their second win of the season. Photo: SUPPLIED"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/sport\/saints-strive-for-sustainability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saints strive for sustainability"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/","name":"Geelong Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#organization","name":"Geelong Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/09\/times_logo_1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/09\/times_logo_1.png","width":248,"height":37,"caption":"Geelong Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7","name":"Brian Allen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Allen"},"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/author\/brian\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113509"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=113509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}