A DREAM move to Sandhurst continues to yield unimaginable glory for goal shooter Rebecca Smith.
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The Dragons sharpshooter made it a perfect three grand final wins from three attempts in her third season with the country Victoria netball powerhouse.
Smith, who made her way to the Dragons at the end of the 2016 season from North Bendigo, at the same time as her coach Tamara Gilchrist, could hardly believe her good fortune to have a premiership medallion draped around her neck again on Saturday, after a fierce contest against staunch rival Kangaroo Flat.
"It hasn't really sunk in to be honest," she said in the minutes after the presentation of the premiership cup.
"It's just unbelievable and the amount of hard years gone into it with these girls.
"Three in a row ... I can't really put it into words."
The premierships aside, Smith has revelled in the move back to the region's major league, and relished the change in environment and bonds formed with new team-mates.
"As much as I love North Bendigo, that was such a great club for me ... I learned a lot about myself. But I don't regret the move," she said.
"Three years, three premierships. It's paid off.
"I love it here. They have just welcomed me with open arms. They are great to play with and it's a great club as you can see today (Saturday)."
In the end, it required the very best from Smith and her seven team-mates, who took to the court, to douse a spirited challenge from the Roos.
"I looked at the scoreboard in the second quarter we were six (goals) down, but we got a couple of tips and it seemed to change the momentum," she said.
"To be even at half-time was a great effort. We were able to take that momentum into the second half."
Smith said she had thoroughly enjoyed her tussle with the Roos' Alicia McGlashan, who remains one of the league's top defenders, and was playing in her 10th A-grade grand final.
"She is such a tough opponent and such a tough athlete - she makes my day really hard. And in such a physical contest," she said.
"I have a lot of good words for Alicia, she is great to play on."
Smith found herself with a new goal-circle partner in 2019, with joint coach and dual Betty Thompson Medal winner Heather Oliver slotting in to fill the breach left by dual-premiership star Kelsey Meade.
Like most at the QEO courts on Saturday, Smith had plenty of admiration for Oliver's performance.
"She has been so great to play with this year," she said.
"With the loss of Kelsey we weren't really sure what might happen, but then Ollie having such a great basketball background was great to have coming into the ring,".
"She moves well, shoots well - she can have the ball all she likes, I'm a decoy," Smith said with a laugh.
Finishing the season with nine league best and fairest votes (after finishing fourth in last year's count) and another premiership medallion, Smith proved she is anything other than a decoy, but more so a key weapon in the Dragons' continued and seemingly unabating success.
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