The former A-grade premiership player was heavily pregnant with her third child when the umpire blew the whistle to signal the start of round one in March.

But just two months after little Ivy Kathleen arrived on April 8, Belinda was back in action.

She has since cemented her place as wing attack in the Bulldogs’ undefeated A-reserve netball team and recently notched up her 200th game for the club.

She says the milestone would not have been possible without support from her family throughout her netball career and an understanding attitude from her coach and team-mates. 

“It’s a bit of a juggling act,” admits Belinda, who is also mum to Neve, 5, and Macey, 3. 

“There are times where I think perhaps I shouldn’t be taking the kids out in the pouring rain to go and play netball.

“And I am breastfeeding Ivy, so it can be a bit of challenge working around that. 

“I will often text the coach on a Tuesday night when training is on to say I am running late. If I have a crying baby, I need to feed her before I come. 

“It is a great reflection on the people at the club that they are very understanding of that. I also know mum will look after the kids if I ask and (husband) Brock is very hands-on and supports me going to netball.

“But that juggling act of just getting out of the house on time, I think anyone who has children can relate to that.”

Belinda has come a long way from the little girl who was once chastised by her junior coach (who also happened to be her mum) for turning cartwheels on the court during a game.

The 33-year-old laughs as she recalls those early days passing and catching for St Peter’s Primary School and later Tigers in the Golden City netball association.

“Mum always played and I remember watching her as a young child, so I knew a little bit about netball even before I started,” she says. “I probably didn’t pay as much attention to mum as I should have – but I really enjoyed being out on the court every weekend in the cold weather.”

It would be fair to say Belinda is not quite so fond of the wintry conditions these days.

“My first game back after having Ivy was against Maryborough and it absolutely poured rain,” she says.

“I came home and said to Brock, ‘What am I doing? Why am I doing this?’ But if I wasn’t playing netball, I don’t know what else I’d do for exercise and to get out of the house.

“It’s good to be involved in sport, whether it’s something you do for yourself or as part of a team. There is a great social aspect to it and it’s good for the kids to see you involved in team activities.”

Team and family seem to go hand-in-hand at Golden Square.

Belinda’s dad Steve and brother Brendan played football for the club.

Husband Brock also played, was involved on the committee, coached the reserves in 2012 and this year is in charge of the under-18s. 

Mum Karen was a senior netball coach at the Bulldogs in 2000-01.

The club is now home to a new generation of children, including three little Pinners, as so many of its football and netball players are parents who bring their brood along on match days.

“My kids love the club because there are so many other kids around,” says Belinda. “They ride their scooters or, if it’s raining, they can go upstairs and watch the telly. It is such a nice family environment.”

From a young age, Belinda built a reputation as a quick, attacking mid-court netballer with strong hands and sound judgment.

She played in Golden City representative teams from under-12 upwards, and North Central regional squads – including one that won the 19-and-under regional title in the late 1990s.

That talented team included future Australian Diamond defender Rebecca Strachan (now Rebecca Bulley), her sister Meredith, Kangaroo Flat champion Karly Bingham and several other girls who went on to have successful careers in the BFNL.

Belinda joined the Bulldogs while still a student at Catholic College Bendigo and made her debut in the A-grade team before her 17th birthday in 1997.

“I was very nervous before my first game,” she recalls. “I had to play against Carol Sing, who I’m pretty sure had won the league’s best and fairest the year before.” 

But a motivational speech from her dad helped set her up for a solid first performance.

“He told me a very good story about mum, playing against someone when she was also very young and how she played really well,” Belinda says.

Steve and Karen Hand are big fans of their daughter and have barely missed a game since she began playing netball.

“They are there most weeks. Dad claims to watch the netball, but I think he watches the football more than anything,” she jokes.

Belinda has taken 16 years to amass 200 games for Golden Square. 

She missed two seasons when Brock went to Wedderburn in 2002 to coach the North Central league club’s senior football side and she played netball for the Redbacks.

The couple later enjoyed a stint living in Melbourne, where Neve was born in 2007.

Belinda returned to Bendigo and the Bulldogs as a playing assistant coach in 2009 and retained the coaching role the following year, when Macey joined the family.

Until that point, she had been involved in three losing A-grade grand finals at the club. But 2011 was a turning point, both individually and collectively.

Square finally broke the drought and won the netball premiership and Belinda earned her team’s best-and- fairest award and selection in the Bendigo Advertiser team of the year. 

“I’d spent a lot of time after having Macey working on my fitness and I think that helped me.

“But I also think it helped that people probably had very low expectations of how I would be able to play after having a baby. 

“I may have got votes because people were like, ‘oh, she can still play’!”

This year, Belinda is enjoying her mid-court role with Golden Square’s A-reserve team, which sits undefeated on top of the ladder.

She says the side is extremely versatile and most of the girls are traditionally defenders who are slotting well into new roles in the attacking third and the goal circle.

But she is determined they won’t let complacency creep in at the pointy end of the season.

“We haven’t lost a match and that makes me nervous,” she says. 

“When I was in Wedderburn, we didn’t lose a game all year then went and lost the grand final!”

Belinda has given no thought to retiring – despite the challenges, netball is such an integral part of her life it would be hard to imagine a future without it.

“In some regards, I think it would be nice to have Saturdays where you don’t have to get out of the house in the pouring rain,” she says. 

“But then again, I would be out there anyway with Brock coaching, so I might as well play.

“I have had a lot of people say to me you are a long time retired, so if I can keep playing, why not?”