St Mary’s rise to the top of the NFNL senior women’s competition is complete, after a terrific 25-point victory of Diamond Creek Women’s 1 in the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 1 decider at Preston City Oval.
The Burra were able to put together four consistent quarters of football on the biggest stage of them all, putting their foot to the pedal in an elongated final quarter, to turn a six-point three quarter time advantage into a 9.6 (60) to 5.5 (35) victory on Grand Final day.
Winning the best on ground medallion was Team of the Year winger Brigid McEntee, who had a stellar performance right throughout the afternoon. Her run and dash from stoppages helped set up terrific transitions into the forward 50 for her side.
Key players Madison Bickerton and Emmison Zealley also put in the hard yards all day, often winning many one percenters and playing a role in keeping their side in control for the majority of the contest.
Jemma Chesser was another to provide plenty of support alongside captain Elyssa Rees and Caitlin Kreuzberger.
Diamond Creek Women’s certainly weren’t without their contributors, with Adele Coppola in particular fighting hard all day in midfield alongside captain Maykaylah Appleby.
Lauren Durante and Stephanie Rozario were some of the more consistent players for the runners up, while Simone Secombe finished as her side’s best for the afternoon.
With a slight breeze in their favour, Diamond Creek Women’s looked to put the scoreboard pressure on early into the Grand Final, and were able to kick the first goal inside five minutes thanks to club leading goalkicker Linda Thorp.
But the minor premiers were able to wrestle back momentum soon after and kicked two crucial goals to the Market End to hit the front in the middle of the term, thanks to Madison Bickerton and Charlotte Evans.
After the Burra looked destined to lead at quarter time, the Creekers would have the final say of the opening term when after a deep inside 50 entry, Rozario found herself at the back of the pack and the 17-year-old kicked truly with just seconds remaining to see her side lead by two points at the first break.
With the breeze behind them in the second, St Mary’s were able to assert their dominance early on in the term, but as they had done all season long, the Creekers defence stood tall.
The Burra were creating opportunities but could only muster three behinds and while Diamond Creek Women’s were kept scoreless themselves, they were happy to take a one-point deficit into the main break.
The Creekers almost had the perfect start to the second half when just 30 seconds in, Thorp found herself in space and snapped towards goal, but just missed. However, minutes later, Thorp would take a contested mark directly in front and produce her second major to give her side the lead again.
With Stacey Cross’ side threatening to extend their margin, the Burra did well to repel any further entries inside their defensive 50, with Emmison Zealley playing a particularly influential game in the backline.
After absorbing more forward pressure from their opposition, St Mary’s would flip the script and at the 17-minute mark, Meg Girolami would somehow get boot to ball with very little room in front of her and kick her side’s third major of the game.
Scores then became level approaching three quarter time, before Caitlin Kreuzberger nailed a set shot from 40 metres out to give the Burra a one-goal lead at the final break.
With the game still in the balance when the siren went to commence the last term, it would be St Mary’s forward Sarah Johnston who would seemingly be the difference in just five minutes of play.
She kicked a goal just 25 seconds into the last term from the goal square, before finding separation from an opponent four minutes later to mark and kick truly, pushing their advantage out to 18 points.
With heavy rain and lightning in the Preston area, the game was halted temporarily before sides resumed play later on with 12 minutes left on the clock.
Thorp would kick a goal for Diamond Creek Women’s five minutes after the restart, but with three of the final four majors of the match, St Mary’s would prevail as premiers with an impressive 25-point win.
