Diamond Creek Women’s Football Club ended years of dominance by the Darebin Falcons to win the recent Victorian Women’s Football League premiership.
In a nail-biting, low-scoring match, the Demons – who went in underdogs against the highly-fancied Darebin – prevailed by just five points: 5.10.40 to 5.5.35.
The Falcons won five consecutive VWFL premierships between 2006 and 2010, but fell short in 2011. They went into the game confident but the Creekers usurped the throne. Coach Grant Barden described the scenes on the siren as “pandemonium”.
“It was a great feeling, being the underdog and winning,” he says. “They’re emotional creatures, women, and the feeling after the game was absolutely brilliant. I’m still buzzing over it.”
Barden says making a good start was the key to the contest and the Creekers kicked two goals to one in the first quarter, then 1.5 to a solitary goal in the second to take an 11-point lead into the half-time break.
“We felt like we had our nervous week the game before against VU St Albans,” he says. “We didn’t play particularly well but we managed to win the game and we knew if we could grind out a final like that and if we got off to a good start we could do the job.”
Darebin came back in the second half but not enough to snatch victory. “They had experience on their side but we pushed them particularly hard,” Barden says.
“They kept pushing until the end but we were the better side on the day. The last 12 or 13 minutes was hectic, the ball hardly moved. I reckon there were about 40 stoppages.”
Barden, who has significant coaching experience, took on the role at the start of the year and says it was a thoroughly rewarding experience.
“We had a strong resolve at the start of the year to go all the way,” he says. “We were sick of being pushed around. We had to strip the game back to its basics but the girls’ enthusiasm was enormous and they were willing to learn.”
Many had never played junior football before, so Barden made education a top priority.
“We wanted to keep it basic during the year, making sure we understood each other’s roles and be predictable to one another.”
Despite the challenges he faced trying to get the group to play cohesive football, Barden says it was “the most enjoyable year of footy I’ve ever had”.
“I was involved with a group of people who just love the game,” he says. “We stuck together even when we went in as underdogs.” ■
