Wyndhamvale held on for dear life to clinch a history-making first Victorian Women’s Football League premiership.
The flawless Falcons somehow escaped with a narrow five-point win over the Whitehorse Colts in a division 3 grand final thriller at the Coburg City Oval on Sunday, remaining undefeated in their second season of existence.
Falcons coach Kerry Saunders could hardly bare to look at the scoreboard as her side nursed a precarious lead for the majority of the second half of the season decider.
“It’s what you call hanging on by the skin of your teeth isn’t it?” Saunders told Star Weekly.
“The players, they were ecstatic, but for me and the other coaches, it was like ‘thank God’.
“I’m more relieved than anything.”
There was on non-negotiable for all teams in this finals series that defence wins matches.
The Falcons, both free scoring and tight defensively in the regular season, proved the most adaptable and it was the key to their premiership.
After booting three goals to two in an attacking first term, the Falcons set about preserving the lead and produced the kind of defence that a wrecking ball would struggle to penetrate in the remaining three quarters.
Kayla Slattery might have kicked three of the Falcons five goals in a match-winning performance, but it was her crucial game-saving marks deep in defence late in the last quarter that saw her get the plaudits from her coach.
Leah Olsen also had the presence of mind to leave her post further up the ground and give a helping hand to her defenders.
They were not alone in refusing to yield to the Colts’ pressure.
“We couldn’t afford a passenger and there wasn’t one,” Saunders said.
“You have to earn every goal and everything you got – that’s what you want from a grand final.
“Our lot were pretty determined to not let them get what they needed to win.
“Everyone worked their butts off to get the win.”
The Falcons are likely to be promoted to division 2 next year with the other dominant regular season side Port Melbourne Colts.
Saunders has urged the VWFL to consider an impressive Whitehorse for promotion too.
“They are a gun side, they’re young and they’re certainly not going to go backwards,” she said.
“They should be going up too.
“You want to have a strong base of teams in there and the league is getting it, so lets not leave them behind.”
The Falcons celebrated their first flag back at their home clubrooms on Sunday night, before heading to the Commercial Hotel in Werribee for mad Monday festivities.
