Saturday night saw the season opener for the second season of the Newcastle Roller Derby League (NRDL). The Harbour Hellcats came away with the prize in the first season and the Fort Smashleys were keen to start the bout with a bang! The stadium hit capacity as the teams skated out to a welcoming an influx of supporters, many no doubt tempted along by the recent local media coverage including the Channel 10 sports report.

The Smashleys skated out to the hip-hop sounds of “move bitch, get the way bitch” lining up and then kissing their “big guns” much to the delight of the crowd. It was easy to see that they meant business. Right from the first whistle the Smashleys skated hard and fast. DangeRass was on an early raid, sneaking by the Hellcats blockers, stealing quick points and called off the jam before the girls in orange knew what hit them. The discipline and tactics of both Newcastle teams clearly showed this was a league that knew what they were doing.

The early part of the bout was dominated by a heavy hitting display by the Captain of the Fort Smashleys, Godjilla Sold Separately and the lighting fast jamming of DangeRass. The Smashleys streaked away to a 14 – 0 lead before the Hellcats Booga stepped up to the jammer line. Booga cut her way through the pack time and time again leveling the score in just one massive 14 point jam.

This brought out even more fight in the Hellcats and the crowd got right behind them. The Cramp and many of the Hellcats whooping it up for the fans as they skated free of the pack. The score see sawed back and forth  in an epic struggle by the evenly matched teams.

The crowd got nosier as the girls smashed, crashed & fought each other and the jams got faster and faster. Susy Pow and DangeRass going head to head off the jammer line taking each other with a little jammer on jammer action.

Half time came all too quickly with Smashelys leading 42 to 38. The Shivering Indies entertained the crowd while fans got a chance to talk to their heroines. The merchandise stand was pumping as they sold wonderful offerings such as tiger like headbands with the Harbour Hellcats logo proudly emblazoned on it and team profile booklets.

The second half score crept back and forth until Babycakes pulled a 15 point jam stealing the lead from the Smashleys. The Smashleys jammer, Dangerass, slid by taking lead jammer before taking a massive hit from Dino La Rouge, showing the Hellcats defensive skills were as sharp as their offence. DangeRass still managed to whip up a 15 pointer!

Sweet Sara’ender stroke through the pack taking lead jammer in a bid to end the resurgent Harbour Hellcats point scoring frenzy, but Susy Pow stalked the pack stealthily and menacingly before pouncing on the Smashleys jammer forcing her to call off the jam.

The bout ended with the Harbour Hellcats winning the night 101 – 86 with Smashley’s Beaver Destruction and Hellcat’s Booga winning Most Valuable Players. With bouts as exciting as this it’s no wonder there are many up coming events in NRDL’s bout calendar including: Round 2 of the Harbour Hellcats & Fort Smashleys Season September 17^th.

Hellcat Captain Susy Pow told RDAU that the Hellcats went into the game with the “intention of having fun the Hellcat Way.” “We held strong walls and contended big hits with from fellow ‘Dames‘ Godjilla, Fannie-Tastic and Broken Arrow.” Hellcats Heartless Desire also agreed after receiving “a good one’ from Broken Arrow.

After the bout, Fort Smashley’s Captaina Godjilla, told RDAU NRDL’s travel team ‘The Dockyard Dames’ will be bouting Adeladie’s Adelaidies at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on the 24^th September and NRDL’s ‘B team’ is set to play the Central Coast Roller Girls soon.

In November the Dames will jet off to New Zealand to play an international bout against one of the Kiwi’s original teams, Pirate City.  There has been plenty of international Roller Derby going on lately, Godjilla herself just having returned from RollerCon in Las Vegas. “RollerCon was fricken awesome” said Godjilla. Stating that it was “great to see where we sit within the states”. When asked how we compare she replied “we’re going well”. Stay tuned for our RollerCon interview with Godjilla!