By Marcus Uhe
The fact that Narre Warren was able to rebound so resoundingly from a shock semi-final loss to Wandin came as no surprise to A-Grade coach Erin Bell.
Rather than stew on the result and fear the worst after a successful season, the Magpies regrouped, licked their wounds and responded in the best-possible fashion to clinch the A-Grade championship for 2023 and return to the top of the mountain.
With the game on the line early in the final quarter, with scores tied at 43, the Magpies pulled-away from their opponents with the next nine goals to eliminate any doubt as to who the best side in the competition was.
Bell said she was proud of her team’s ability to respond when put to the test, and said the lessons learned from the semi-final loss were invaluable.
“It’s so exciting, but in a strange way I felt kind of, confident in the end,” Bell said.
“The girls were looking really good and things were starting to fall their way.
“We definitely did a few things differently that maybe Wandin weren’t expecting today, which helped.
“I think everyone just played their role and really made an impact when they had their opportunity on court.
“I think we ran out of legs last time we played them, so we rotated our goalers around, our defenders, rotated through the mids, we had to make sure we had fresh legs and especially because it’s such a hot day.
“That’s what we did, and that made sure everyone could do what they needed to do, at full intensity.”
One such move was the decision to move Gabrielle Dwyer to Goal Keeper to mind Emmalia Blake, a move that netted Dwyer best-on-court honours.
While Blake took the switch in her stride, Dywer’s value came to the fore as the game continued, as influential as anyone at the death.
“I think Gabrielle got better as the game went on, she worked (Blake) out a bit and got a few crucial balls in the end,” Bell said.
“That’s what it takes, you’ve got to grind it down for three quarters and then the rewards come in the fourth.
“That’s what happened with Gabrielle, she was so close early in the game and then got hands on the ball at the end, so credit to her.”
Despite finishing the year at the top of the table, Bell said her side grew as the year went on as they responded to challenges thrown at them from the lower rungs of the ladder.
Things could have completely capitulated for the Magpies as they faced their nemesis Mt Evelyn in the preliminary final, a side that got the better of them twice in the home-and-away season.
But the ability to hold on for the victory held them in good stead for a determined Wandin outfit, in Bell’s eyes.
“I do believe that it’s not always a good thing to win your semi and go straight through, I think last week gave us the confidence we needed for this week,” she explained
“Maybe if we had just beat them in the semi and had the week off and came in, it might have been a different ball game.
“I think last week was crucial for us to do what we needed to do today.
“I think in the past, we’ve really lost our confidence and lost our heads a little bit, but we kept our shit together and were able to get over the line.
“To score 10 goals in the end was amazing.
“Whether it was our belief or we had too much pressure on ourselves, (or) we crumbled a little bit, I’m just really proud that we learned from that and in the last two games, we’ve absolutely not let that happen.”
