"IT WOULD be a pretty awesome team to coach."
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That's the verdict from Sandhurst triple premiership coach Tamara Gilchrist following the announcement of the BFNL Netball Team of the Decade (2010-19).
The 13-player team, honouring a host of past and present BFNL stars, has been unveiled this week.
Gilchrist, who together with joint coach Heather Oliver has led the Dragons to a three-peat of flags in the last three seasons, has been named as the team's coach.
A line-up high on star power, class and skill includes at least one representative from nine of the 10 league clubs.
Eaglehawk, Golden Square and powerhouse Sandhurst are best represented in the team with three players apiece, while Gisborne and Maryborough supply two each.
The team includes four players - Heather Oliver (Sandhurst/Eaglehawk), Brianna Dalrymple-Monro (Sandhurst/Strathfieldsaye), Meg Gilbert (Golden Square/Castlemaine) and 2019 Betty Thompson Medal winner Ashley Ryan (Eaglehawk/Golden Square) - to have played at two clubs during the decade.
The starting seven is anchored in defence by two of the league's most decorated players of the era, Maddy Stewart (Gisborne) at goal keeper and Sandhurst's dual Betty Thompson medallist Oliver at goal defence.
A slick and classy midcourt features two more dual league best and fairest winners, with Gisborne's Tiana Newman (2009 and '13) at wing defence, and Dalrymple-Monro (2011 and '16) at centre, alongside Kangaroo Flat's Karly Elvey, who won a league medal in 2012, and holds down the wing attack position.
Dual sporting code player and goal shooter Gabe Richards (Golden Square) and goal attack Christie Rogers (Eaglehawk) form a fearsome tandem in the goal circle.
A six-player interchange squad includes Maryborough's Alicia Cassidy and Alisha Chadwick, defender/midcourter Gilbert, skilful Sandhurst goal attack Kelsey Meade, Eaglehawk centre Ryan, and Kyneton's Emma Webb.
Highlighting the BFNL competition's tremendous depth throughout the decade, five of the players named on the interchange won the league's top individual award.
Gilbert, who left Golden Square at the end of 2017 and is now the playing coach of Central Highlands league club Buninyong, and Kyneton's Webb shared the award in 2014, Chadwick won hers in 2010, Cassidy in 2005, while Ryan is the reigning champion.
Cassidy, who was still playing with Maryborough in 2019, and her former Magpies team-mate Chadwick are numbers one and two on the league games played list.
The team includes a total of 10 Betty Thompson medallists for a combined 13 wins.
Gilchrist, the BFNL's inter-league coach in 2017-18, was confident all 14 players picked in the team would feel as honoured as she was after being named as coach.
"It would be a great team to coach - having 13 players would make the rotations tough. There's a lot of talent in there," she said.
"One look at the team shows you just how much strength is in this league.
"I haven't been in the BFNL the whole decade, so there's a few players I never had to coach against, but I certainly know of them and know just how good they are, so it does show how good the players are who come and go."
Equally as accurate a guide of the league's strength, according to Gilchrist, was the number of players, who would have come under strong consideration for a spot in the team.
"I don't envy the job of the selectors of this particular team, there are a lot of players not in there who could easily have made the team," she said.
"Especially right now, there's so much talent in this league."
Among those sure to have come under strong consideration for inclusion in the team (but certainly not limited to) include Kangaroo Flat's six-time A-grade premiership defender Alicia McGlashan, her former Roos team-mate Lauren Bowles (nee Cowling), who won a Betty Thompson Medal pre-2010 and has coached White Hills to the past two HDFNL A-grade flags, former Eaglehawk goal shooter Abby Gilmore, former Golden Square pair Jess Geary and Belinda Pinner, Maryborough's Laura Hurse, and current day midcourt star Meg Williams, who has played in three premierships with Sandhurst and been best on court in two of them.
Added to those selected, it's easy to see why the Bendigo league has perennially been ranked among the state's top leagues, finishing as Association Championships premiers in 2017, runners-up in 2016 and 2018 and semi-finalists in 2015.
I don't envy the job of the selectors of this particular team, there are a lot of players not in there who could easily have made the team.
- Tamara Gilchrist (BFNL Team of the Decade coach)
On a personal level, Gilchrist was rapt to see three current Sandhurst players in the team - Oliver, who was best on court in the 2019 grand final win, Dalrymple-Monro, and Meade, who is getting ready for a return to the court after a year-off.
The BFNL's inter-league captain in 2019 and an undoubted leader at her own club Gisborne, Stewart described her selection as 'super-exciting, but very unexpected' after being notified earlier in the month.
"When you look at the other people in that team, it's a very impressive and special team," she said.
"You do look back over the last 10 years and think of the calibre of players who have come through the league and what they have achieved.
"I'm very proud to be in it, but it was unexpected."
The first two players announced as the team was progressively unveiled this week, Stewart and Oliver have shared plenty of links throughout their years in the BFNL.
The pair were Victorian Netball League team-mates at Melbourne University Lightning, while Oliver prevailed by one vote over Stewart in the 2017 Betty Thompson Medal count, the year before the Gisborne star won her league best and fairest.
Stewart said she would jump at the chance at playing alongside the Dragons star again if the opportunity presented.
"We did have a couple of stints in the circle together in the VNL which was a lot of fun," she said.
"She is an amazing player and a fantastic player to play with, and such a good person as well.
"She is very deserving of her spot."
A mainstay at Gisborne throughout the decade, Stewart said she had enjoyed her battles against the team's two starting goalers and was particularly pleased to see Sandhurst's Meade rewarded.
"Kelsey is so underrated and definitely the hardest goal attack I have played on in this league .... and from a good bunch of goal attacks," she said.
"Christie (Rogers) was playing when I first came into A-grade and I always remember her being amazing - super strong and such an accurate target.
"I'm not at all surprised by her selection and Gabe (Richards) is just a given in this team - so hard to stop and again a really reliable target."
One of four players named who are no longer playing in the league - together with Gabe Richards, who is back playing with Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL this season, Chadwick and Gilbert - Rogers looked back on her time in the BFNL (from 2010-12 and 2016) with great fondness.
"I was very honoured and shocked to get the letter, mainly because I haven't played BFNL for a while," she said.
"But I definitely look back on it with great memories, especially 2012. That was a massive year when we (Eaglehawk) won the premiership.
"We had an unbelievable team and it was when Heather Oliver was playing with us. We had her and Lauren Miller in defence, who were amazing, and Abby Gilmore in goals with me. It was very enjoyable season and with a great group of girls."
Named alongside Richards in the starting seven, Rogers said she would have relished the prospect of lining up next to the 2015 Golden Square premiership star for real.
"She would be amazing to play with - just her height and her physical strength and experience at a high level," she said.
"I'm not sure our years crossed over, said Rogers, who missed most of the Hawks' 2016 season with a knee injury.
"Playing against her might have been a bit of a challenge."
Rogers, who this season won the Loddon Valley league best and fairest as playing coach at Calivil United, said she did not envy the task of selectors in finalising the line-up.
"It's a great side they've put together, a lot of league medallists. I'm sure it would be an amazingly hard team to choose with so many talented players in the league over that time," she said.
"I played with Tiana and Brianna at inter-league and state titles and Ollie, obviously at Eaglehawk. And I've always hated playing against Maddy, she is just an amazing defender.
"There's definitely plenty of talent loaded into the one team."
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