IF GISBORNE was looking for a lucky omen or good luck charm ahead of the 2013 BFNL A-grade grand final, Bulldogs star Maddy Stewart believes there were a few to choose from.
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An exhilarating grand final week for the Bulldogs got off to the perfect start six days earlier when their star centre Tiana Newman won the Betty Thompson Medal as the league's best and fairest player.
It was the second time Newman, then 23, had won the prestigious award and followed her previous medal win in 2009.
Her victory was a convincing one, with the star midcourter polling 24 votes (four lots of three votes and six twos), to finish clear of Golden Square's 2013 season recruit Allira Holmes on 19, with Maryborough's Alicia Cassidy third on 18.
Another promising sign was to arrive early on grand final day when Gisborne's 17-and-under team pulled off a major upset to claim the premiership with a 43-41 win against Kangaroo Flat.
The young Bulldogs were jointly coached by A-grade players Maddy Stewart, who was only 17 herself at the time, and Tarryn Rymer.
"I remember we were missing two of the girls (Claire Anderson and Ruby Kourkoumelis), who were on a school trip, so we had the bare seven (players)," Stewart recalled.
"Realistically we didn't have the best team (in the competition), but I'm sure we had the hardest-working team.
"We actually won that by two goals against Kangaroo Flat, who I reckon might have been undefeated, or had lost just one game."
The club's second 17-and-under premiership win, combined with Newman's Betty Thompson Medal victory, only added to the momentum for the Bulldogs, who were already hot favourites to claim their first A-grade flag.
"I think we had only lost one game during year to Sandhurst and after having the first week off in the finals, we kind of cruised through to the granny, " Stewart said.
"Tiana winning the Betty was a really good start to the week."
A first-class lead-up transformed into an electrifying opening to the grand final for the Bulldogs, who led 16-10 at quarter-time on the back of 12 goals to Annie Stewart.
They were able to extend their lead at half time to nine goals, with goal shooter Stewart again instrumental in the second term scoring nine of her's side's goals during an 11-8 quarter.
Much like they did the previous week when they came from behind to defeat Sandhurst in the preliminary final, the Roos turned the game on its head in the third quarter.
A goal in the dying minutes from Roos goal attack Rachel McKenzie, who would go on to play in a grand final with Gisborne in 2018, put her side in front, before a pair of steadiers from Stewart gave Gisborne a slender 32-31 advantage at three-quarter time.
In the words of then Bendigo Advertiser journalist Travis King, "the final quarter was a heart-stopper".
"Just like last year, when Eaglehawk came from nowhere to win by a goal on the siren, the big and vocal crowd was treated to a breath-taking display of skill and physicality."
With former Sandhurst player Maddi Exell on fire at goal attack, Gisborne eked out a 37-33 lead, before the Roos rallied for one last massive effort to score four of the last five goals.
But it wasn't enough, with Gisborne, led by best on court Melissa Harris, able to stand firm and hold on by the barest of margins to record a groundbreaking first BFNL A-grade flag.
The 39-38 final scoreline marked the third time in four years the A-grade final had been decided by a single goal, following wins to Kangaroo Flat in 2010 and Eaglehawk in 2012.
For Maddy Stewart, who has gone on to become the BFNL's premier defender, but spent most of 2013 at wing attack, the premiership win was special on many levels.
"I would hands down say it was the best day of my life," said Stewart, who claimed an overdue and richly-deserved Betty Thompson Medal of her own in 2018, after finishing runner-up the previous two years.
"Looking back at the team now, yes we were all very close then, but they all my best friends now.
"It was probably more special for me as I played with my sister and mum was coaching.
"Annie was on fire in that game. She didn't miss many goals at all. She missed one right near the end of the game, but she didn't miss many all game, and she and Maddi Exell were hard to stop all day.
"Mun did a great job coaching ... she had Noelene (Rymer) on the sideline helping her."
Stewart identified the previous season's Betty Thompson medallist Karly Bingham as being influential in the Roos' second half comeback, with her nimble and precise ball movement, together with the physical presence of defenders Alicia McGlashan and Simone Butler.
For dual Betty Thompson medallist Newman, the Flat's stirring fightback came as no real surprise.
"They are the best in the league at coming back and they still are," she said.
"We got so far ahead and got so excited, I think we lost where we were in the moment and we were thinking about the end game.
"I think we were 13 up at one stage.
"As a group, Flat just never ever gave up, which was a bit intimidating for us. They never dropped their heads, credit to them.
"It was unreal, we were pretty lucky to get away with it in the end."
Still one of the competition's undoubted guns, Newman, who in 2019 finished runner-up in the Betty Thompson medal count behind Eaglehawk's Ashley Ryan, described best on court Harris as a star and the ultimate big occasion player.
"She was one of the best goal keepers in the league and she still would be if she was playing," she said.
"She loved the big show; when there were heaps of people there (in the crowd), she really stepped up.
"She was awesome that day, and Annabel Stewart shot awesomely too."
Gisborne goal defence Polly Salter was another player to have a massive influence on the result.
As her lone senior premiership success, Newman said the 2013 grand final was a day she would cherish forever.
"I always think about it still - I just want one more before I retire and to get that feeling again," she said.
"It was a great game and great girls, I love them all, and I'm still playing with some of them, which is awesome."
"All the boys really got involved too. We're a club that really supports each other with footy and netball, so it was really fun having all our friends around in the aftermath."
Just as pivotal as the performance of any Bulldogs player that day, according to Newman, was the part played by a packed crowd, led by a boisterous blue, red and white army.
"I think the crowd actually helped us win, they were all at that back stand and their cheering at the end and when they ran on the court, it makes me emotional thinking about it," she said.
"It was just one of the great days."
It was a view shared by her long-time team-mate and friend Stewart.
"People said to us for years afterwards they had never seen a netball crowd like that," she said.
"I think it was the moment everyone realised how close the footballers and netballers were at Gisborne.
"The boys were all over there watching - sadly the under-18s had lost that day - but everyone stuck around and cheered and probably got us over the line in the end."
I always think about it still - I just want one more before I retire and to get that feeling again.
- Tiana Newman
Perhaps the only surprise to emanate from 2013 for the Bulldogs was, having climbed to the top of the mountain, they have since been unable to return, despite establishing themselves as perennial contenders.
"One-hundred per cent a surprise, " said Newman.
"We have had a lot of really talented girls, but I don't know what it could be, we just seem to capitulate at the end in finals.
"I think we had a bit of a hoodoo over us for a few years. 2018, we were probably a bit unlucky to lose, we probably thought we were going in favourites and we got done.
"That was pretty shattering in the end."
For Kangaroo Flat, the wait for grand final redemption would not be a long one.
Grand final teams
Gisborne: Melissa Harris (GK), Polly Salter (GD), Shelley Farrigua (WD), Tiana Newman (C), Maddy Stewart (WA), Maddi Exell (GA), Annie Stewart (GS), Tarryn Rymer, Ellie Newman.
Kangaroo Flat: Simone Butler (GK), Alicia McGlashan (GD), Bridget Chambers (WD), Sarah Fern (C), Karly Bingham (WA), Rachel MacKenzie (GA), Nina Cass (GS), Brooke Lawry, Monica Wellington.
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