A CRUCIAL game for Golden Square against Kangaroo Flat will be a special one for the Bulldogs and their club-mate Millie Donegan.
The nine-year player and graduate of the Bulldogs' junior program will play her 150th game for the club in the lone Saturday clash in round two of BFNL netball.
Donegan, who started life at Wade Street in the 17-and-under team under Kathryn Gilmore in 2011, has featured in the A-grade team the past two seasons.
Bulldogs coach Kendyl Hopley said she had been fortunate to watch Donegan progress her way through the grades and establish herself as an integral part of a largely young senior line-up.
"Millie is very dedicated and hard at the ball," Hopley said.
"She is a strong team player and team contributor and it's fantastic seeing her at this level and having her at our club for so long.
"Millie has continued to embrace her netball and has taken every opportunity that has come her way.
"She bleeds blue and gold and loves being at the club alongside great mates and family, with brother Harry playing seniors, mum Wendy on the committee and older brother Jake and dad Bern, who have also helped out around the club."
There have been plenty of accolades and individual and team success along the journey for Donegan.
She won a B-grade best and fairest in 2014, was runner-up in the award in A-reserve in 2017 and 17-and-under in 2016, and was part of the Bulldogs' A-grade grand final side in 2017.
She was unfortunate to miss an A-reserve premiership win in 2016, when overseas.
Hopley said it would be a big game in more ways than one for the Bulldogs, who will be looking to bounce back from an opening round loss to Kyneton.
"Kangaroo Flat is always extremely competitive and will be very hard to beat from our end," she said.
"We will go in positive and hopefully stick to our game plan ... getting a win for Millie would be nice."
Roos leader Jayden Cowling, who will coach his side before heading to Melbourne to represent Victoria at the 2019 Australian Men's and Mixed Netball Association Championships, said they were eager to get on the board after coming up just short of a win against reigning premier Sandhurst last weekend.
"We were pretty happy only going down by a few goals - it was definitely a winnable game," he said.
"We trained pretty hard Thursday night and we're pretty excited to get back on the court and get a win.
"We spoke about where we went wrong and think we know the things we need to work on for Saturday."
The Roos will go in with an unchanged line-up from last week after unveiling new recruit Kate Burton, but will again be without class defender Ingrid Hopkins, who is recovering from a stress fracture in her foot.
Cowling was quick to wish Donegan all the best for a well-deserved 150th game.
"It's not every day or every one who gets to play 150 games, so a massive congrats to Millie Donegan, who has done it at such a young age and at the one club," he said.
"I'd like to offer my best wishes. I'll be cheering from the sidelines, but obviously not too much."
Saturday's A-grade game is at 3.20pm.
In games today, Eaglehawk is playing South Bendigo, Sandhurst is hosting Strathfieldsaye at the QEO, and Gisborne returns to action after a round one bye against Kyneton.
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