Harper Sercombe
A late comeback from Wyndhamvale fell short with West Footscray holding on to wins its first Western Region Football League women’s division 2 premiership.
Wyndhamvale was the favourite going into the grand final, having finished on top of the ladder and having won through to the grand final in the semi finals.
After finishing in third place it was never going to be easy for the Roosters, having to do it the hard way. After having the double chance last season and losing in straight sets, there was mental weight to bare during the finals series.
The Roosters passed Laverton and Spotswood 2 in the first two finals clashes before meeting minor premiers Wyndhamvale in the grand final on Sunday.
The Roosters got off to a good start on Sunday morning at Yarraville Oval taking a seven point lead into quarter time.
In the second term the Roosters extended on their lead adding three majors to the Falcons two, giving them a 13 point half time lead.
The lead grew again to start the third quarter before the Falcons started their charge.
The Falcons were able to cut the lead to 14 at three quarter time. It’s a situation the Roosters had been in before.
In the last term, the Falcons kicked two goals tying up the scores leading to a tense 10 minute finish to the clash.
With the scores equal every bounce of the ball was crucial, the ball was going end to end with neither side able to hit the scoreboard. With minutes left on the clock the Roosters had a snap shot at goal which hit the post but still put them a point up.
The Falcons weren’t able to transition the ball back up the ground with the Roosters cutting it off again and missing again to extend the lead to two points.
That would be the margin, with the Roosters winning 6.7 (43)-6.5 (41).
Jemma Hay booted three majors for the Roosters in a best on ground performance to take her goal scoring tally to 46 for the season.
Krystyn Raymundo booted two, to give her 28 goals for the season, the third best in the league.
Roxana Sefton continued her great form while others amongst the best for the Roosters included Sarah Roberts and Stacey Gardiner.
From the Falcons, Rachael Burton was clearly their best, doing everything she could in the dying minutes to give her side the win.
Roosters coach Shane Windridge said coming from an elimination semi final made it even more special for his side.
“It makes it special, ” he said. “Our first final certainly wasn’t an easy one and then to come up against a team last week that we hadn’t beaten this year and to get a win there and then Wyndhamvale had a super year we knew we need everything to go our way today to get us over the line.
“With a pretty injured list in the end was a super effort.
“We got a really good start and we got a bit of a lead but they just kept coming and coming in that last quarter, the heart was beating pretty quick.
“We were lucky enough to get a couple of points, luckily the result went our way.”
This is the second time in this finals series where a team had almost stolen the game from the Roosters after Spotswood 2 almost did the same thing last week.
“They just kept coming and coming,” Windridge said.
“Lucky for us the siren blew when it did. We didn’t want it to go too much longer.
“Just to get into finals is a pretty good effort with us, it’s been a pretty tough year with injuries and everything.”
The premiership is the club’s first women’s premiership having first had a side in 2018.
The side it set to play in division 1 next season.
