NAB 2010 Grand Final Results
NAB Grand Final 2010 Report
On a beautiful sunny September Saturday, the Youth
Girls of the NSW Illawarra showed their talents in front of an
appreciative crowd seeing the stars of tomorrow. Many thanks to the
young girls, parents and officials who participated in this event and
hopefully it may become part of tradition in future.
For the main event, Balmain were kicking towards
the golf course end which had the wind blowing towards it opened
brightly to kick the opening score keeping the Breakaways goal-less in
the quarter. However the Breakaways were more efficient in the second
quarter to slam home three goals to lead 3.3.21 to 2.3.15. In the
premiership quarter it was to be Newtown taking advantage to score a
goal to nil and further consolidated in the final quarter with 2 goals
to one to win their 6th premiership. If anything, it was probably the
most unlikely premiership of all in their proud history with so many
retirements from last year's team. Only 14 of today's Breakaway team had
played in last year's premiership team. The umpires announced that in
their opinion Kate Fitzsimons (Balmain Dockers) was judged best on
ground although Selene Thornton was the best of the Breakaways with
Stella Xie a very close second.
Many thanks to our premier partners, NAB Inner West who were able to help out with some goodies and their sponsorship of the league. I hope it's the start of a mutually beneficial sponsorship between the two organisations.
Sorry about the brief description of the game as I
actually wasn't there to see the game but arrived afterwards to conduct
some interviews with some of the participants.
Stephanie Foster - Newtown Veteran.
"I came back after receiving the call from Natasha Devlin and although I
had avoided contact sports for a couple of years, I had been fit by
running around. I felt a sense of renewal coming back to Newtown and
meeting the new girls. However I really like to thank Darren Lewtas,
Coach of Newtown for coaching the girls to play intelligent football and
sticking to the game plan regardless of the skill level. We'll see if
this was my last game!"
Newtown Coach Darren Lewtas
- "How about those apples! Seriously I'm very proud of the team today.
Captain Natalie Redford had 3 rucks against her, and it was Jemma
Still's 150th game today so it all came together today."
Balmain Coach Tracey Kick
- "This defeat is a little hard to take at the moment. In comparison to
2008, we were the front-runners all year especially in the home and
away season. However congratulations to Newtown who had a superior game
plan playing to their strengths of the ball on the ground and tight pack
contests and taking away from our preferred style of playing. We won
the first quarter but got runover from then on. If the club lets me, I'm
very keen to return back in 2011."
President of Newtown and player Natasha Devlin
- "We peaked at the right time and most of it was due to securing the
right coach at the start of the season. It was big shoes to fill Jamie
Robertson's shoes and I'm glad Darren was able to win the title and
become our club's 2nd premiership coach".
Balmain player Kath Kobzan
- "I don't know what actually happened today. We were mentally prepared
for this game and during the week we had ex-Sydney Swan Nick Davis pop
into training to give us a talk and inspire us. He was also here today
so I thank him for his presence. Congrats to Newtown but we never gave
up and I look forward to playing in 2011."
Other things to note Bec Burridge (Newtown) and Steph Foster (Newtown/Sydney Uni) are now the most decorated Premiership players in SWAFL history with six premierships.
Final Score: Newtown Dockers 6.7.43 - Goals: Selene Thornton 2, Cassie Lees 1, Mel Daley 1, Nikki Low 1, Verna Iles 1.
Balmain Dockers 3.5.23 - Goals: Kate Fitzsimons, ?
The Newtown team that took to the field was (in numerical order):
1. Cassie Lees
2. Natasha Devlin
4. Evelyn Synnott
6. Laura Holdsworth
8. Roxy McGee
9. Krystle Thompson
10. Tracey Farrugia
11. Stella Xie
12. Nic Roache
13. Rosalie Graham
14. Brooke Davis
18. Nikki Low
19. Rebecca McKee
22. Tobi Noble
23. Natalie Redford
25. Amy Threlfall
27. Rebecca Burridge
30. Steph Foster
31. Jemma Still
34. Verna Iles
36. Taheal Moody
37. Selene Thornton
70. Mel Daley
87. Fiona McGinley
The Balmain team that took the field:
2. Narelle Spagher
3. Bee Pride
4. Sherelle Moore
5. Christina Matthews
9. Rachel Barger
10. Maggie Jenkins
11. Jaime Warhurst
13. Katie Walsh
14. Peta Hemphill
15. Kath Kobzan
17. Kate Fitzsimons
20. Lynda Rowan
23. Rowie Morgan
25. Jackie Buckthought
28. Alison Parkin
31. Felicity Purdy
32. Elizabeth Brett
36. Sally Armstrong
37. Clare Beech
38. Karla Spilarewicz
42. Anna Watson
43. Lisa McGinnigle
47. Olivia Hall
85. Hayley Warren
On behalf of the SWAFL Committee, we thank all the
players from the clubs, officials, volunteers, coaches, spectators and
officials for an excellent season in our 11th season. We look forward to
your company next week at the SWAFL Presentation Night next week to see
who our league winners are.
All the other AFL Women Champions around the country:
Senior Women's
ACT: Tuggeranong
QLD: Logan Cobras - 5 in a row (Brisbane/Goldcoast), South Cairns (Cairns), BITS - Boyne Island, Tannum Sands (Capricornia)
SA: Eagles
TAS: Launceston
Victoria: Darebin - 4 in a row (Premier Div), Darebin (Reserves) - back to back, South Mornington (South-East), Sunbury (North-West)
WA: Coastal Titans (Division 1), Peel Thunderbirds (Division 2)
Youth Girls Football:
ACT: Tuggeranong (U15'S), Tuggeranong (U18's)
NSW: Shellharbour Swans
QLD: Yeronga (U15's), Gold Coast Warriors (U18's),
SA: Salisbury North (U13's), Salisbury West (U16's)
Victoria: Clonard College (Geelong), Darebin
(Northern), East Malvern (Eastern), St. Albans (Western), Marong
(Bendigo), Cranborne (Dandenong)
Victoria are also the Under 18 National Champions.
Photos courtesy of Selene Thornton and Brett Sheerin.
Last Modified on 19/09/2010 08:33