In front of a packed crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Oval on Friday night, Castlemaine got the better of Golden Square by 19 points, final scores 5.8 (38) over 2.7 (19).

Despite a slow first quarter, Magpies swooped into action in the second term with goals from Jemma Finning and Shelby Knoll to put the scoreboard pressure on the Bulldogs at half-time.

However, with the scores at 3.3 (21) over 1.2 (8), it was still anyone's premiership for the taking.

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Castlemaine's bolstered back line and mid-fielders came to life in the third quarter by hampering Golden Square's looks at the forward 50.

Meanwhile down the other end of the ground, the Magpies took advantage of two goals, one again from Finning to take a commanding 26-point lead into the deciding quarter.

Even though the Bulldogs were able to score one more goal in the fourth, the defensive pressure from the Magpies increased and was more than enough to see out the game in front.

"I am so happy for the girls after the amount of work they've put in all year," Castlemaine co-coach Jordan Cochrane said.

"This is an amazing achievement for the club as a whole and for the effort everyone has put in throughout the course of the year.

"It all came together perfectly and it's amazing to finish off the season the way that it has."

Even though the Magpies had a strong lead heading into the fourth quarter, Cochrane was taking no chances as he knew if there was any team in the league that could stage a last-minute comeback, it's Golden Square.

"They've come back at us in the last quarter a few times this year. We knew that the game was never over and that we needed to just keep applying the pressure to get us over the line," he said.

Shelby Knoll and Jemma Finning booted two goals each of the five-total haul.

Castlemaine half-forward Aisling Tupper was named best on ground for the match.

Now that the job is over, Cochrane said there was a sense of relief.

However, plans are already in the works to come back even stronger in 2023.

Golden Square coach Todd Deary congratulated Castlemaine on their maiden premiership victory.

"We've got no excuses really, we just didn't come to play," he said.

"They wanted it more, were more organised around the ball than us and handled it better in the wet than we did.

"They did it all better than us tonight."

One aspect of the Bulldogs' performance which Deary felt wasn't at its best was general handling.

"It was disappointing as we take a lot of pride in our hand skills," he said.

"But tonight when the pressure was on us our hand skills just fell away which then led to confidence falling away too."

Regardless of the outcome Deary said the Bulldogs will come back fighting in 2023.

"I am very proud of our girls and I feel for them as they are taking the loss quite hard," he said.

"We'll be back next year and we'll have another crack at winning the flag."

Golden Square's Jess Cox and Tegan Williams booted the Bulldogs' two goals.

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