Tullamarine had to pull something special out of the bag to complete the perfect Essendon District Football League women’s division 2 season on Saturday.
Aiming to complete the perfect season with a win against Airport West in the grand final at Windy Hill, the Demons were pushed like nothing they had faced this season.
The Demons started well before the pressure of the Eagles led by Shae Montrose and Cheyene Macumber rose in the second quarter.
The Demons still led at half time by three points, but the Eagles could have easily been in front having had more scoring shots.
The Eagles kicked the first goal of the second half to hit the front, a situation the Demons had not been in all season.
The Demons could have easily just fell away, but it saw them go to another level. They kicked the next one and led by five points.
Nothing would split the two teams in the last quarter. Both teams had two shots on goal, but neither team could find another one, with the Demons winning, 3.5 (23)-2.6 (18).
Emily Angelidis was named best-on-ground for her efforts in defence, including helping keep the division’s leading goal kicker Emily Gipp goalless.
The premiership is a result of how far the Demons have come in a short period of time.
Demons coach and president, Peter Labbad admits he wasn’t keen on the whole idea of having a women’s side at the start.
“For me to coach the girls is very ironic,” he said. “I didn’t want any girls at the Tullamarine footy club.
“Now I’ve coached them and it’s been three years of hard work. It’s the best thing the club has had for a long while.
“It’s changed our dynamic and atmosphere and the men and women just get around each other.
“More than 90 per cent of the senior men were here today. It just shows our culture we’ve been trying to change over the last five years has changed.”
Labbad said the match was never going to be a high scoring effort. He said in the end it was a toss of the coin.
“We did say it was going to be ugly and the rain made it harder and it stopped our run,” he said.
“It brought them back into it and it was exactly what [Airport West coach] Marcus [Barclay] was saying.
“It was grit for both sides. You could flip a coin at the end of a day and I’m so proud of them.”
After the second quarter where they struggled to get the ball forward, Labbad made some key positional changes.
Courtney Annett, who was controlling the ruck, was moved forward. Co-captain Tricia Devine, who was quiet up forward, went into the middle.
“I had to make them,” Labbad said. “Courtney took four big marks in the second half.
“Trik started to get the ball out of the middle, where she had been shut down in the half forward line where she was dominating all season.
“It’s good to have that versatility. It was all about fitness and that fitness gives me the opportunity to change it over.”
Both of those two players could have easily been best on ground. Labbad also spoke highly of Angelidis for her best-on-ground performance.
“Emily had never played back line and we had an argument at the start of the year about her playing at full back,” he said.
“I saw her run and her one-on-one work and this year it changed our whole dynamic. She’s used to running in the middle and she was amazing
“She was an amazing assistant coach.”
As well as being happy for the girls, Labbad said on a personal level the win was pretty special.
“I’ve had 49 years in footy and for me and I’d never won a flag and never played in a grand final,” he said. “I had coached four losing grand finals too.”
