Tara Murray
Werribee Centrals created a slice of history on Saturday, winning their first Western Football League women’s premiership.
Having been in the mix for the last three years, the Centurions won through to the grand final for the first time this season.
It was a case of a Centurions side playing in their first grand final and Caroline Springs playing off in its fifth straight.
For much of the game, it seemed like the Lakers were going to come out on top.
A plucky Centurions side though wasn’t going to give up without a win.
They kicked the last three goals of the game to come away with a 6.3 (39)-5.7 (37) win.
Speaking straight after the game, Centurions coach Jade De La Rue was speechless at what they had achieved.
“This week leading up to this game was so different, you know, we put a lot of preparation in but it was mainly just focusing on our strengths,” she said.
“So I think round one of the finals we kind of came in and shut down this person, shut down this person, shut down this person.
“Losing that game probably did the best thing for us because we came back last week stuck to our structure and did everything the way we needed to do it and it came out with a big win.”
De La Rue said heading into the grand final they were focused on sticking to their structures.
It paid off early on as they repelled multiple inside 50s from the Lakers.
“Our defensive 50 has been the best one all year in the entire competition,” she said. “That has never been a worry of ours. We know between Meg [Meghann Basto], Buk [Abuk Akec] and all those girls back there are always going to take those marks and take them in the most important minutes and they did that again.”
Having kicked two goals late in the second quarter, the Centurions took the lead and confidence into the half time break.
De La Rue said they felt like they were in a good spot.
She said the third quarter didn’t go the way they wanted. In the end it came down to the final 10 minutes.
The Centurions trailed by 18 points at that stage.
“Usually our thing is we tend to drop our heads a bit but everybody was saying to everybody get your head up don’t drop it like get back into the game and that’s what we managed to do,” De La Rue said.
“It was literally just every single person just going up taping each other on the back saying get the job done.
“Make sure that you’re not dropping your head staying in the game and it worked as everybody lifted when we needed him to lift and we were smart across that half forward flank as well, slowing it down and playing kick mark sort of thing.”
De La Rue said they talked about who wanted it more and they weren’t going to let it go in those final minutes.
Julia Nash was awarded the best on ground medal.
De La Rue said she’s an incredible athlete with the way that she trains.
The premiership caps off a stunning first season as coach for De La Rue.
She said she felt a little bit of imposter syndrome earlier in the season, but knows she belongs now.
“Over the last couple of weeks the group has made me realise, that this is where I’m meant to be,” she said.
“I couldn’t imagine not playing and coaching this year, it’s an amazing thing. Just grateful to be part of it.”
De La Rue said they would probably have a “three-day bender” before focusing on growing the program next season.
She said they want to build on what they’ve done.
“Creating that club culture, which we have grown really strong across the board,” she said.
“Spend more time with the juniors and help them develop more and create a good space, which has been really successive this year.”
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