Sport
29 September, 2022
Avoca laying the blueprint for prolonged success
EVEN with a premiership up for grabs on Grand Final day do Avoca’s netball coaches cast an eye towards what their club’s future holds.
EVEN with a premiership up for grabs on Grand Final day do Avoca’s netball coaches cast an eye towards what their club’s future holds.
Maddy and Kerry Egan’s decision to replace most of the starting players with the “young pups” deep in the last quarter, with the result in the bag, was no victory cigar substitution but a glimpse into the club’s mantra of putting its long-term vision ahead of anything else.
“We have to work them in, they’re our next bunch of senior players coming up and done the hard work,” Avoca C-Grade co-coach Maddy Egan said.
“They’ve missed out on two years of under 17s with COVID, so we were really conscious about getting them on in tight games to get that experience and to prepare them for finals like this.
“It was awesome to give them a go and they were so thrilled. The girls that came off were so supportive as well and when the siren went it was a big sense of relief and excitement.”
These late substitutions are nothing new for Avoca’s C-Grade side, which has sought to involve as many of the club’s under-17 players as possible in the last quarter of matches.
Avoca’s six-goal victory over Harcourt put an end to four years of heartbreak for the Bulldogs’ C-Grade team which, despite lofty finishes at the end of previous home-and-away seasons, have failed to progress past the second week of finals.
Determined to not let the curse take them victim once again, a third quarter surge saw the Bulldogs extend their lead and put the result beyond reach.
Club legend and multiple premiership winner, Colleen Soulsby, was instrumental alongside her partner in crime Colleen Drummond up front in the pivotal “premiership quarter”.
Despite already having several medallions to reflect on at home, Soulsby says the 2022 premiership will be remembered as a special one.
“It felt very surreal, especially after four years of disappointment,” she said.
“We always knew they would come back at us. The games are always tough until half-time and then in that third quarter something comes out in us and off we went.
“We’ve got a great bunch of girls and it’s them that makes this really special to be part of. It was great to share it with all the young girls who came on at the end because they’re our future, if we can push them along they’ll be able to enjoy this again over the next couple of years as well.”