Tara Murray
Macedon could have never imagined in its wildest dreams that it would be in the Riddell District Football League women’s grand final in its first season.
Not sure whether they would get the numbers to field a team for the first time, the Cats have come from fourth to make the grand final.
Cats Tamara Collins said it was still sinking in that they had made the decider after Saturday’s preliminary final win against Melton.
“It was really scary yesterday [Saturday], today it’s really good,” she said. “The excitement was immense after the game.
“I’ve been told back at the club rooms everyone was talking about women’s footy making it through.
“Everyone is quite excited. For a lot of the women it’s the first ever grand final they have been part of.
“We feel like we want to get grand final week started now and pump it up.”
The Cats entered Saturday’s preliminary final against Melton as the underdog, having lost to the Bloods twice during the regular season.
It was an even first quarter and the Bloods still led by one point at the main break.
The Bloods kicked the only goal of the third quarter to open up a nine point lead heading into the final break.
Collins said the Cats had plenty of confidence going into the final quarter, as they were kicking with the wind.
“It was a really tough game,” she said. “Melton has some great markers of the ball and put us under a fair bit of pressure.
“We had the wind going into the final quarter and we gave out some monetary motivation and one of the girls kicked a couple of goals.
“We stepped it up a little bit and we’ve always been able to finish games off strongly, whether we win or lose.”
The Cats would kick three final quarter goals to seal the 4.4 (28)-2.4 (16) win and the grand final spot.
Lilli Collins kicked two final quarter goals, while Anastasia Fisher took a strong mark and converted for the other goal in the final quarter.
Tamara Collins said it was the young ones that really led the way, especially late.
“Lily Prater, Scarlett Lynch and Lulu Slater were all really good,” she said. “They just stepped up and ran with the ball and put Melton under the pump.”
The Cats now face Kyneton in the grand final on Saturday at 5.30pm at Gilbert Gordon Oval for the first RDFL women’s premiership.
The Tigers, who are undefeated, will go in favourites as they search for their first women’s premiership In the two matches between the sides this season, the Tigers won 77-0 and 36-1.
Collins said anything can happen in a grand final.
“All games start 0-0,” she said. “You’re always in with a chance and we want to make it hard for them, that will feel like a success for us.
“Hopefully we’ll have a big crowd up there watching.”
