Gisborne-Kyneton United produced the perfect season as two clubs united to win the Essendon District Football League women’s division 2 premiership on Saturday.
Right from the start of the season, United was the team to beat.
Each time the side stepped out on the park it continued to gel and took it to the grand final against Taylors Lakes on Saturday.
It was a dominant display in the decider from United.
United hit the scoreboard early and after quarter time kept the Lions scoreless. The game was all but over at half time.
United added to the scoreboard in the third quarter to further increase the lead before it was celebration time in the final quarter.
United won the premiership, 10.12 (72)-1.2 (8).
Co-coach Bernie Marantelli could have never imagined this result when she took on the coaching role last year.
Her main focus was getting a side back up and running after Gisborne didn’t have one last season due to a lack of numbers.
“No way known,” she said of winning a premiership. “I just thought it would be hard work from the outset for a couple of years maybe.
“To have this sort of result in a short period of time is fantastic.”
Weeks out from the season Gisborne became Gisborne-Kyneton United with the Kyneton Women’s Football Club joining forces.
The Kyneton Women’s side had been born out of players from Kyneton who had left to start their own club but hadn’t found a league to play in.
Across came a number of players, while Phil Hawkes took on the co-coaching role. Hawkes had coached Kyneton to the past two Riddell District Football League grand finals.
Together the two teams were the perfect match.
“I think we did click,” Marantelli said. “It did take some time but I think it was evident throughout the season that if you use Taylors Lakes as a gauge we improved every time we played them.
“For me, that was a bit of a yardstick.
“I’m really proud of the two groups that have come together. It has been a fantastic union and just to get this sort of result you can’t hope for.”
On Saturday, the Lions bought the pressure early on and made United really work for it.
The first time the two teams played was the closest a team had come to beating United.
Marantelli said they thought the game might have been a bit closer with how the Lions started.
“They did bring that early pressure and our tackle counts were down fairly low in comparison to the qualifying final,” she said.
“They did bring the pressure and I thought jeez, this is a different game after the first five-10 minutes.
“I think it evened out in terms of our pressure and stress levels dropped a bit and we settled into our game and systems.”
Marantelli said the grand final experience for the Kyneton girls and the finals experience of the Gisborne girls was telling in the match against a Lions side playing finals for the first time.
Cheyene Macumber kicked three goals for United while Charlotte Bracey and Emma Williams kicked two goals each.
Co-captain Belinda Hateley was awarded the best on ground medal by the umpires.
Macumber, Ayesha Nicholson and Amanda Crooks were others named in the best by Gisborne-Kyneton United.
“Phil and I talked about it with a few minutes to go,” Marantelli said of performance. “We had three or four people in the best on grounds and there were lots of ebbs and flows,
“Essentially our whole 22 just really held their heads up. I don’t think there was one Gisborne Kyneton player who didn’t present and play well.”
In a pleasing side for the side, several youngsters stepped up and showed why they are the future.
Marantelli said she will have a couple of weeks off before starting to look at next season with the side set to step back into division 1.
“Kyneton will hopefully find a home somewhere and we will hopefully continue our rebuild,” she said.
“Ben [Crooks] who coaches the 18s and Shannon McFerran have been fantastic supports as well.”
