Lower Plenty have marked their return to the NFNL senior women’s competition with the 2024 Cleaning Melbourne Division 2 premiership, defeating Ivanhoe by 26 points at Preston City Oval.
In windy conditions that heavily favoured the City End, the Bears’ two opening quarter goals at the other end of the ground looked to be the difference, with no further scores occurring from the Market End for the remainder of the match.
Lower Plenty got out to a 35-point half time lead which was brought back to 10 points by three quarter time by the Ivies, who pressed hard in the early stages of the second half.
But a 2.4 final term from the Bears secured a 9.8 (62) to 5.6 (36) premiership victory in the club’s second ever season as a standalone senior women’s side.
Star midfielder Shae Audley took home best on ground honours following another superb display. Her ability to break through tackles and win centre clearances for her side, while also producing efficient inside 50 entries, helped Lower Plenty make the most of their forays forward.
Bree Unthank excelled in the ruck, providing first use for her midfielders on almost every occasion, which benefited the likes of Ava Klaic and Amelia Mullane to dominate in stoppages.
Emilia Bisogni was a standout for Ivanhoe with her midfield work, particularly in the first and third terms, while Olivia Forgarty was the most dangerous forward for the Ivies. She kicked two goals and always kept the Lower Plenty defenders on their toes.
The Grand Final was a matchup of the two most in-form sides of the competition, with Ivanhoe coming into the match on an 11-game unbeaten streak, and Lower Plenty winning their previous three finals by 50 points or greater.
It set up an enthralling opening term, with the Ivies looking to utilise the wind advantage after winning the coin toss, but could only manage two behinds in the first five minutes.
The Bears would pounce on the door being left open by their opposition, with Michaela Molenberg dribbling through a kick from the pocket to give her side the first major of the afternoon.
Lower Plenty were soon to find another when Kyla Parry converted a set shot to put the Bears ahead by 10 points, and suddenly, the pressure was on Ivanhoe to get the game back on their terms.
Ian Callahan’s side would continue to push hard but would kick three more behinds before Olivia Fogarty got a much-needed goal for the Ivies to see them trail by just a behind at the first break.
The second term would prove to be a display of domination by the Bears, who with the wind now in their favour, piled on five unanswered goals to balloon the lead out to a game-high 35 points by the main break.
Milla Fereday got on the board with a set shot conversion at the two-minute mark, before Molenberg evaded traffic well to kick her second major six minutes later.
The forward duo would then be involved in a three-minute blitz late in the term where Lower Plenty would kick another three goals.
The 35-point half time margin put Lower Plenty in the box seat to bring the premiership cup home, however Ivanhoe would have the chance to replicate their opposition’s second quarter efforts as the third term commenced.
Olivia Forgarty looked to set the tone early in the quarter after she kicked her second of the afternoon, before competition leading goalkicker Georgia Pirdis made her presence known with back-to-back goals, giving the Ivies more momentum.
As Ivanhoe looked to keep pressing further, Lower Plenty showed great resolve and had the ability to keep the ball out of their defensive 50 for long periods of time, preventing their opposition from eating away at the margin.
Shortly before three quarter time, Federica Frew would mark close to goal before quickly snapping truly to set their deficit to chase at just 10 points with a quarter to play.
The Bears, now with the wind back in their favour, were starting to extract the ball out the middle with ease and could have put the game to bed inside the first 10 minutes of the last quarter, but only produced four behinds in that timeframe.
However, the icing on the cake would soon come, as Fereday and Amelia Mullane would find the big sticks late in the match to solidify a terrific 26-point premiership triumph for Lower Plenty.
