A SEASON in which Elmore’s A-grade team broke a six-year finals drought and its six senior and junior teams showed considerable improvement across the board has ended with some premiership success for the Bloods.
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And it was one of their A-grade players Hollie Hildebrandt, who was at the helm as coach, as the Bloods’ 17-and-under team made it back-to-back flag wins with a hard-fought seven goal win against Colbinabbin.
The Bloods came from 15-11 down at quarter time to have their noses in front by six goals at half time following a blistering 13-3 second quarter run.
With star goal shooter and league best and fairest Abbey Hromenko in full flight during a 12 goal individual third quarter, Elmore was able to increase its lead en-route to a 49-42 win.
Both of the Bloods’ back-to-back premiership wins have come against the Grasshoppers, who have played in three-straight grand finals.
An emotional Hildebrandt could not have been prouder of the 11 girls in her team following the win.
“They’ve worked very hard all year and were lucky enough the reward came with back-to-back premierships,” she said.
“They handled it really well and kept the nerves in check.
“The first quarter was okay, but they really set themselves up in the second quarter.”
Hildebrandt spoke glowingly about Hromenko, who added a premiership medal to her swag of accolades this season, which have included inter-league representation and a league best and fairest.
“Abbey is one of the girls from this team, who has played up in A-grade; we’ve also had Cade Hayes, who is still eligible for under-15s, and a few of the other girls like Zahra Hayes and Sophie McLean have sat on the bench,” the coach said.
The Bloods also got a strong contribution from centre Bree Heiden, who has spent much of the season playing A-grade in the BFNL for Golden Square.
Following the Bloods’ first A-grade finals appearance since 2012, Hildebrandt was confident things would only keep getting better at Elmore.
She credited much of that success to first-year senior coach Sue Borserio, who switched to the Bloods from BFNL club Kangaroo Flat, where she had built up an outstanding record of success, particularly with the Roos’ under-age teams.
“I was lucky enough to play under Sue in A-grade and she has been fantastic for the club,” she said.
“As a player and coach, she is always there for me to bounce ideas off.
“She has improved the club right across the board.”
