Our women's Premiership 2022/23 - Three in a row!

THE VALLEY THREE-PEAT!

Three years, three Grand Finals. The first two of them Premierships. But could we do it again and win the game that really matters for a third season in a row?
You bet we could. The Moonee Valley Women’s team is a group which gels when the heat is on, and for a third year in a row we started the Grand Final as underdog and held our nerve to win the Premiership.
At right: Our victorious 2022/23 team. L-R. Back - Sandra Verschoor, Sridevi Thoppe, Sarah Fenn, Jane Greenshields, Tara Newman, coach Darren Nagle. Front - Katherine Baker, Kelsie Armstrong, Sarah Gooden and Yasmin King.
Even though we were promoted two divisions after winning the Div 5 flag last season, we seemed comfortable in the higher grade and put together some excellent games.
The Grand Final was played on the West Preston ground of Preston Druids, who had been top of the ladder until we knocked them from the perch in the final round. Moonee Valley 3/183cc def Preston Druids 4/172cc.
We had finished fourth. We accounted for replacement top team Point Cook in the semis, 4/128cc to 3/104, and then were back to Preston Druids in the Grand Final.
We had shared the points during the season – one win apiece, and we conceded a forfeit to them when we were COVID-affected.
At left: High five, keeper! Coach Darren Nagle presents Sarah Fenn with her premiership medal.
But we’d beaten them only two weeks ago, so to that extent we had the wood over them. We had a strong recollection of the strengths of their better players, and coach Darren “Spud” Nagle was able to plan accordingly.
March 5 was a warm day – temperature up to about 30, and not too much of a breeze at WH Robinson Reserve.
Captain Tara Newman lost the toss, and we were sent in to bat. That’s what Tara would have elected to do if we won the toss, so our pre-match planning was on track.
It had been a struggle for numbers for us for much of the season, and we regularly took to the field with the minimum six players. Sometimes we had seven – but we had never had the luxury of playing with the nine girls we had today.
We'd had an availability scare during the week. Our hard-luck story is Sandra Verschoor. She was in the selected 10 in our first premiership but didn't at any stage take to the field due to a semi-final hamstring tear. She missed the team for the second flag when she did a hamstring and a knee in the semi. And she went to hospital after this year's semi after a heart rhythm flutter. Fortunately it stabilised and Sandra was cleared to play. So she could finally take to the field.
Our nine players gave us the benefit of batting in four-over retirement blocks, rather than the five we were used to all season. It also flustered the opposition – they hadn’t bothered reading the rule book, and while they were getting agitated and ringing the NWMCA for clarification, we got on with the job of putting a solid innings together.
At right: Congratulations: Jane Greenshields gets her Premiership medal from coach Darren Nagle. Jane's two wickets in the 10th over busted the game open.
We had two umpires – Daniel Bird, who had officiated in a number of our matches this season, and the experienced Robert Seymour. That was another luxury for us – we had no umpires in the semi.
The pitch at WH Robinson Reserve was quite narrow – probably a couple of feet narrower than our home pitch at Ormond Park, with patches of sand on the edges. A lot of the outfield was dead and dry, which meant the ball would run fast.
Strangely, even though it was Preston Druids’ home ground, they didn’t play it as well as we did.
Their early overs were quite wayward, and our opening pair of Sandra Verschoor and Yasmin King took toll of any loose deliveries.
The first over went for 16, and we were off to a flier at 0/37 by the time of our first rotation of batters.
Katherine Baker and Tara Newman were next in, and with another 10 runs off the next over we were only six runs shy of our season-best first five over block – 53 in the semi.
At right: Congratulations: Yasmin King with her third Premiership medal.
Kat and Tara upped the ante with their running between wickets, stealing cheeky singles and byes and turning ones into twos. At the end of their four overs we were 0/83, with Tara on 20 and Kat on 16.
Jane Greenshields and Kelsie Armstrong continued the frenetic running, and took another 10 off the opening bowler when she came back on for her second over.
We brought up our hundred in the 10^th over. Preston’s bowlers were still having problems with their radar on their narrow pitch, and no balls were being called regularly.
Sarah Gooden came in with Sarah Fenn at the 12-over changeover with the score at 0/115. Goody whacked a couple of fours before being run out backing up too far, and Sridevi Thoppe came in one ball into the 14^th over.
Sfenn kept hitting the ball hard and running, and put up the challenge to Sridevi to run with her – which she did. Sridevi hit a beautiful cut shot for two, and could be rightly proud of her season-high score of 5 when she retired.
The opening bowler came back on and was belted for another 12 runs, but at least had the consolation of claiming the wicket of a rampaging Sandra for 29. Yas was also back in and hit a couple of big fours going for the slog before she was caught for 20 in the 19^th over.
That had Kat and Tara back at the crease for the final over, where we nailed another 10 runs to finish with a very competitive 3/183.
That would be a great total on most grounds, but with the dry and fast outfield at Preston we would have to work to defend it.
Preston had conceded 47 extras in their 20 overs – including 39 no-balls and four wides – and we knew we would have to be on our game to avoid giving away the same number of free runs.
They had three girls who had made a lot of runs for them during the season, so everyone was expecting a big start in their run chase.
But the music in their entertainment tent stopped first ball, when Tara Newman held a great catch at deep mid on when their opener tried to belt Sandra Verschoor out of the park.
First points to Moonee Valley. Tara also opened the bowling, and we held them to 1/26 by the time Sandra and Tara had finished their initial two-over spells. They were 1/32 off their first five overs when they swapped batters.
Sarah Gooden and Sridevi Thoppe then bowled their two-over spells and kept a lid on Preston’s chase, at 1/73 after 9.
Jane Greenshields came on for the 10^th over, and with wickets from her first and fifth balls had Preston reeling. One was a smart catch behind the stumps by Sarah Fenn and the other was a safe outfield catch by Katherine Baker.
Kelsie Armstrong came on and got one of their young guns bowled first ball – the first time all season the girl had been out. So she can thank Kelsie for having an average – but that’s little consolation.
The No. 6 and No. 8 batters pushed the score on to 117 at the end of the 15^th, when they retired. That brought their big hitters back in – the captain and her daughter.
The equation was clear. They needed 67 off five overs to win, @ 13.4. They knew their home ground and how to play it. The 16^th over went for 18 runs. The 17^th went for 12. We were bowling good balls, but their batters were chancing their arm and slogging.
Tara came back on to bowl the 18^th over, and only went for 7. They needed 32 off 12 balls, with the run rate out to 16.
Sandra bowled the 19^th over and it went for 12. They tried to slog, but with the tight bowling and tight fielding their hoped-for boundaries only went for twos.
Final over. 20 needed to win. Tara bowling. A four first ball – even though it was a good nut. Then two dot balls. Manna from heaven!
Two singles. Only eight from the over, so our final winning margin was 11. Premiership to Moonee Valley – and the third in a row for our girls. Just like Hawthorn in the AFL.
Great work from coach Darren Nagle, who prowled the sidelines with his advice to the team. He had trained the girls well throughout the season, and they knew what was needed.
Great work from Moonee Valley’s spectators – family, friends, current and past players. Probably 40 or more of us to cheer the girls along. And a message of encouragement and support from Moonee Valley’s first official Legend – Ray Storey.
Tara, Kelsie and Yasmin have played in all three Premierships, and Goody, Sfenn, Kat and Sandra in two.
We thought it may have been a big jump this season to come from Division 5 to Div 3, but we handled it with ease.
Where to next season? We tested ourselves against Division 1 team Youlden Parkville in the bye round, and won comfortably. We’ll wait and see what next season brings – but for now we’ll savour the victory.
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