A thrilling, end-to-end Cleaning Melbourne Division 2 Women’s grand final was won by Fitzroy Stars Football & Netball Club, creating history by taking out its first women’s premiership thanks to a 12-point win over Ivanhoe Football Club.
It was a terrific grand final that suited both teams’ method on the wider expanses of Preston City Oval, creating a contest that had plenty of thrills and spills as both teams attacked the contest hard.
After losing the second semi-final two weeks ago, minor premiers Ivanhoe was stung into action to put together a better start this time around and delivered with the first goal – Georgia Pirdis converting from close range to help give the Ivies a six-point lead at the first change, 7-1.
Although there were no goals in the second term, one could get a sense that the game was starting to shift the Stars way. They dominated the term and started to get on top around the ground ball, but while having many gettable chances, it was a bit of a setback for them that they couldn’t convert, kicking four behinds for the term, while the Ivies kicked two behinds as they sought to increase their lead.
At the main break, the Ivies were holding on to a four-point lead, 9-5.
It started to happen for the Stars as the third quarter got underway, and at the heart of it all was eventual best-on-ground, Rosie Wilson.
Wilson’s clean hands down low was the difference, creating many great chances in the front half for the Stars, and helped deliver the first goal of the half for league-leading goalkicker Amina Keegan to give the Stars a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the afternoon.
Five minutes later, it was Wilson’s turn to do it all herself, as she kicked an electric running goal to have the Stars on top, before setting up another five minutes after that for Ella Hill Berto.
The Stars weren’t done, and Keegan added a second in the late stages of the third quarter. Suddenly, the Stars were 21-points up at the final change, 30-9.
Keegan looked to have sealed the game as the final term got underway, kicking her third to make it 26 points.
But with the Stars starting to cramp up and having injury take hold, the Ivies did have an avenue back into the game and looked to take the game back up to the Stars.
This delivered a goal through Casey Clough, and the game shifted again.
Ivanhoe dominated territory, but it took another eight minutes to score another goal, again through Clough, just to make things interesting.
However, the Ivies ran out of time, and it was the Stars who held on to take a memorable first premiership in the women’s competition after falling short as runners-up last year, 5.6 (36) to 3.6 (24).
For just a couple of weeks at least, the Stars will hold on to both a senior men’s and senior women’s premiership at the same time.
No best players were named for the Stars, but it was obvious that Wilson was best-on-ground. In such a contested match, her ground ball ability was sensational, while the likes of Keegan, Devony Hoare and Tayla Hart-Aluni were always buzzing around the contests as well.
For Ivanhoe, Emilia Bisogni, Clough, Claire MacGill, Molly Uwland, Avena Henriksen and Sophie Smith were all named in the best.
Victorious Stars coach Jax Mardini was thrilled with the win.
“It’s something that’s been a long time coming. Now that we’ve done it, it’s a bit hard to comprehend, but these girls, the work they’ve put in through the season, and the sting of the grand final loss last year, it gave us fire in the belly,” she said.
“We pride ourselves on our run and carry and our fundamentals and it’s something we work on all year. Every session, we got better, we put one percenters in the bank; it was something where we talk about putting money in the bank, and that’s what you see, it’s that craft work, being cleaner around the ball, and it was prevalent. We talk about premiership quarters, that was it for us.
“We don’t have a single player who stands out, we have great players and we are grateful that we have the calibre of players we have and they elevate our players to get better.
“We hadn’t won one yet, and this is history being written. You look at the community coming out to support these young women.
“Half of these girls are mums, we get to training two nights a week, come to the game and the commitment from this group… it’s a big one for the group. It’s huge.”
Offering a word on Wilson, Mardini said the sky was the limit.
“We call her ‘Bushy’, because her name is Rose, and she’s a ‘Rose Bush’ and you can’t get next to her. Her thorns sting,” she said.
“She was instrumental. That classy, lethal left foot, no one will ever catch her, she is someone to be reckoned with and her future looks massive.”
And wouldn’t it be exciting if she – and her talented teammates – take up the challenge of stepping up into Division 1.
-Michael Thompson (via The Northern Footy Show
