Tara Murray
Essendon coach Brendan Major could have never imagined the season the club would have in the Victorian Football League Women’s competition.
Having coached the side since they came into the competition in 2018 when the side won just one match, Major has been through the highs and lows.
So when they won the VFLW grand final against the Southern Saints last weekend to complete an undefeated season, he knew how much work had gone into getting the club to this point.
“It is amazing,” he said. “It’s reward for the work we’ve done over multiple seasons to get everyone to where they are now.
“I thought we had zero chance of [having the season they did]. That’s so difficult [ going through undefeated] and I started to think about it before the grand final, that if we win this thing, it’s a huge effort.”
The Bombers were the dominant team all season.
Two draws were the closest they came to losing. Each of their finals wins were comprehensive.
In the grand final, the Bombers beat the Saints, 6.6 (42)-0.7 (7).
It wasn’t the perfect game from the Bombers, but they did more than enough to get a convincing win.
“I would have liked to score a little bit better,” Major said. “They stifled our ball movement a little bit.
“Our forwards were able to take their opportunities, that was the main difference. We have so many different forward options and you can’t keep them all down.
“Other players stepped up and did the job.”
The most impressive thing about the performance from the Bombers was the pressure they put on the Saints when they had the ball.
It was led by Alana Barba, who was named the Lisa Hardeman medallist as the best player on the field.
“The pressure was phenomenal,” Major said. “Alana is primarily an offensive player and she had 18 tackles.
“You just tell her to play footy and once she gets out their and gets going the competitive juices flow.”
The one down side of the win was a serious knee injury to co-captain Georgia Nanscawen.
The injury will rule Nanscawen out of the upcoming AFLW season, where she was set to play for the Bombers.
Major said Nanscawen had been the one who led from the front in the grand final.
While much praise has been given to Major for the premiership, he was quick to put the focus back on the players.
“The playing group drives everything,” he said.
“Every time someone new comes in for a couple of training sessions they say its so good and everyone works so well together.”
With the season over, Major will now sit back and be a fan as the club fields an AFLW team for the first time.
Nine players who played in the VFLW premiership are part of the Bombers AFLW squad.
Major said it was exciting to see what those girls can do at the higher level.
