By Mikayla van Loon
After a bumpy and challenging start to the season, Mount Evelyn’s under 18 girls football team have finished up the year with a grand final win in the Eastern Football Netball League’s (EFNL) premier division.
Beginning the season without a league to play in and coping without proper change rooms while they undergo a rebuild, coach Chris Tesoriero said the girls “had some pretty tough times” but were rewarded for their determination with the win.
“There’s been plenty of hardships for us throughout the year but the girls just stuck together and that was the best thing about our team, they are very close,” he said.
“Some of our girls have been playing footy since the under 12s, so we’ve got a pretty close knit team and the fact they stuck together throughout the whole year, that was what I think got us over the line and got us the flag.”
Coming up against Vermont, who the Rovers lost their only game to throughout the season, Tesoriero said the game plan was to kick three or four goals in the first quarter, knowing the rain was coming.
“We got off to a really good start and then Vermont came back at us towards the end,” he said.
“The second half was pretty even, although we’d done the damage in the first quarter. So we were four goals up and then we won by five goals. That first quarter really set us up.
“It was a pretty skillful match until the rain came and then it became a bit of a dour defensive game. There weren’t a lot of goals scored in the second half but the girls, obviously wanting it a little bit more, came away with a win.”
On the whole, Tesoriero said Mount Evelyn has a strong junior girls program, with under 12, 14, 16 and 18 teams in the competition, as well as the senior women’s playing in the EFNL’s premier division.
“We’ve got a constant flow of junior girls coming up through the ranks, which is really good to see. We’re one of the biggest clubs, participation wise, in the girls. We’ve definitely got more teams than anyone else around the Yarra Valley area.
“We’ve got a lot of good coaches throughout the whole program and there’s a big light at the end of the tunnel where they can go up and start to play senior footy and don’t have to go and play elsewhere. So it’s that continuation right through from under 12s, all the way to seniors.”
With some of the senior players starting to take on coaching roles with the junior sides, Tesoriero said “it just goes to show that if you put back into the program, you get a lot of success.”
The under 12 girls will be competing in the grand final on Sunday 21 August against Wesburn, the 14s are playing off against Monbulk for a spot in the grand final and although finishing on top of the ladder, the 16s fell just shy of the grand final.
As the season comes to an end, Tesoriero said “seven girls are eligible next year to play senior footy” and he hopes they decide to stay on and play.
“We just want to keep building and make sure that girls and women have a place in football, in a very supportive senior club and junior club.
“It’s starting to show that if you’ve got a good program and you can build a good program, you get the results in the end.”
Final scores Mount Evelyn 7.11-53 to Vermont 3.5-23.
