Westbourne Grammarians’ Victorian Amateur Football Association women’s premier B season may have come to an end, but it’s one they look back on with pride.
The Grammarians made finals in their second season back in the competition and managed to get a first up win in the elimination final to have a shot at making the grand final.
Old Brighton, the only team they didn’t beat this year, proved too strong in Sunday’s preliminary final, ending their season just short of a grand final.
Co-coach Ian Allan said they couldn’t speak more highly of the girls and what they had achieved this season.
“From where we have come from 18 months ago, it’s massive,” he said. “We started last year in an eight team competition and had a percentage of 54.
“This year our percentage was 170 per cent. We finished in the top three after beating Port Melbourne.”
On Sunday, Old Brighton showed why it had been the minor premiers.
Old Brighton had six scoring shots to one in the first quarter but only had a five point lead to show after not making the most of their opportunities.
It was much the same in the second quarter before Old Brighton finally kicked a couple of goals in the third quarter to lead by 27 points at three quarter time.
While the game was all but over, the Grammarians fought hard in the final quarter and got on the scoreboard.
Old Brighton won, 4.18 (42)-2.1 (13).
“We knew it was a great challenge and we were underdogs,” Allan said. “The only thing that got us was maturity.
“Old Brighton have been around for a while in the VAFA. We are still new and our average age was 21-22 compared to 26-27. That’s a huge difference in pressure football.”
Allan said while they have bowed out they have seen the season as a massive success and one that they want to continue building on.
“We could not have asked for any more from them,” he said. “The growth in the group is not only in seniors but in reserves.
“There’s a lot of learnings and depth in the group. The focus next year and there’s no pressure on the girls, is to keep improving over the summer.
“We ticked a lot of boxes and we had a lot of quality players out.
“We’ll see if the girls can take it to another level and we think that they can.“
It wasn’t all bad news for the Grammarians on Sunday, as their reserves side won through to a second straight grand final.
The minor premiers take on Old Yarra Cobras in the division 4 grand final on Saturday. The Cobras beat them in a low scoring elimination final a couple of weeks ago.
Allan said they were getting behind the group and hoping that they could take what they learned in last year’s defeat and turn it into glory this year.
