When coach Warren Taylor joined Craigieburn Eagles in 2004, his aim was to get the women’s side near the top of the Big V division 2 ladder within five years.
But nowhere in his expectations did he think the side would win not one, but two division 2 championships in that time.
The first of those was in 2006. The players from that team will reunite ahead of the division 1 match against Chelsea on Sunday for the 10th anniversary.
“They had made finals series some time in the ’90s, but that was it,” Taylor said.
“It was a very laid-back culture when I came in and I wanted to take it in a different direction.
“I said give me five years and I’ll get the team near the top end of the ladder.”
In his second season, 2005, the team made finals before being knocked out in the first round.
Pre-season form in 2006 indicated the Eagles would be in the mix that year.
“We went to Warrnambool for a pre-season tournament and made the grand final,” Taylor said. “We then made the grand final of the Big V pre-season tournament.
“I thought that if we could put a few things together we might be a chance.”
The Eagles took a very young side into the season with Tracey Tuesley, who was 23 at the time, the oldest player.
Also in the team were current Eagles Natalie Stewart and Kellie Bailey-Lynn, then just 21 and captain.
Bailey-Lynn remembers not being seen as a threat by other sides.
“We were not really given a chance by anyone outside the club,” she remembers.
“Right up to the grand final people were saying it was the opposition playing a bad game, not us playing well.
“We enjoyed being the underdogs. We put pressure on ourselves and had no other option but to make finals.”
The Eagles were sitting fourth or fifth at the midpoint of the year but from there everything went right.
“We won 12 out of the last 13 games,” Taylor said.
Tuesley, Brooke Davenport and Jacinta Scott were three of the players who really stepped up.
Scott, now playing for Hume City Broncos, was just 16 at the time.
“Our game style was very aggressive and we got to the foul line a lot,” Taylor said
“We’d give Jacinta the ball in the last quarter as she was a good foul shooter. She had eight free throws in the last quarter alone most weeks.”
Going into finals, the Eagles faced a couple of familiar foes in Hawthorn and Mildura – all of their last seven matches were against those two teams.
A first-up finals win in the qualifying final against Heat was followed by a loss to the Magic in the first semi-final.
It meant a preliminary final match-up against the Heat, which went down to the wire.
“We won by two points,” Taylor said.
“Mildura had a shot on the siren for a three to win the match and it looked like it was going in all the way.
“It was good to show we could fight out the game and show a bit of resilience.”
That set up another match against the Magic, this time in a best-of-three grand final series.
Picture Shawn Smits.
The Eagles made the most of home court advantage in game one of the series, winning 60-50. Tuesley top-scored with 17 points.
Bailey-Lynn said that heading into game two, she knew it was theirs for the taking.
“The body language wasn’t the same from them,’ she said. “We’d played them so many times so we knew and it’s the only game in my career I haven’t been nervous about.
“It rattled them losing the first game and we were their bogey team.”
The Eagles came out firing in game two and led by 18 points at three-quarter time.
“Tracey was fantastic early on and we were happy with where we were at,” Taylor said.
“They come back at us, Amanda Champion tore us to shreds and they got back to within five or six points.
“Brooke was brilliant and we started to get the ball to Jacinta and we took back control.”
The Eagles won 67-58 handing them not only their first women’s championship, but also the first for the club.
For Bailey-Lynn it’s the best memory she has at the club. Not only was she captain, her mum Kath Bailey was president.
“It’s been important in our lives, not just in basketball,” Bailey-Lynn said.
“Six or seven of us are still good friends and been part of each other’s weddings and our kids are friends.”
The Eagles were promoted to division 1 in 2007, but the year didn’t go as planned and they found themselves back in division 2 in 2008.
It resulted in a second championship for the club. Tuesley, Davenport, Kylie Davies and Bailey-Lynn were part of both sides.
