Club history was made on Sunday as Wallan’s senior women footballers won their first premiership after defeating Darebin Falcons by seven points in the Northern Football Netball League, NFNL, division three women’s grand final.
Wallan controlled the game from the bounce, keeping the Falcons scoreless for the first half while the Magpies kicked two points.
At the start of the third quarter, Shazi Cappello broke the goal-drought after earning a free kick near the goal square and scored Wallan’s first major of the day.
The Falcons responded, kicking a goal from the boundary – the goal of the day – but Cappello didn’t let it go unanswered, kicking her second goal a minute later to give the Magpies a comfortable eight-point lead heading into three-quarter time.
In the final term, Wallan’s Gloria El-Armaly kicked a goal to give the Magpies a 14-point lead six minutes into the quarter.
Two minutes later, Darebin slotted a second goal bringing the game back to within eight points.
A kick off the ground by Darebin dribbled through for a behind but as the final siren sounded, Wallan took the victory 3.2 (20) to 2.1 (13).
Wallan coach Leigh Senior said the win felt amazing.
“I don’t even know how to explain it, I don’t think it’s sunk in very much,” he said.
“As a coach you always want to have a premiership medallion and a cup but I’m just proud of the girls and happy for the girls for the efforts they’ve put in.
“They’ve finally got a reward from bottom of the ladder last year to top of the ladder, minor premiers and getting the premiership cup – it is a testament to the girls.”
Senior said in the first half, the side moved the ball forward but weren’t getting rewards for their efforts.
“I said to the girls we just need to reward ourselves because we’re getting the ball forward and holding the ball – we’re just not getting any scores on the board but Darebin’s defence was really good,” he said.
“We didn’t want to over-analyse what we were doing. We just wanted to keep it basic, focus on what we’ve been doing all season and that was just play a strong game, hit our targets and don’t change anything too much from what we’ve been doing that’s helped us win all season.”
El-Armaly secured the best-on-ground medal after her involvement in majority of Wallan’s surges forward, while also producing a crucial final-quarter goal.
Wallan’s Chelsea Paton, Kelly Lennox, Teagan Sheldon, Capello and Kia Montgomery were also named in the NFNL division three women’s team of the year.
“There was a lot of really strong efforts. Our young players really stood up,” Senior said.
“Obviously Gloria was great and Kristy Nunn in the ruck was awesome but we had no passengers. Everyone really stood up, which was amazing. It was what we needed to do to beat them.”
Senior said the side appreciated the encouragement they received from their supporters.
“We had a lot of supporters down there from the local community and the junior footy club,” he said.
“They were the ones that really helped us get over the line so everyone that helped out and supported us were much appreciated.”
