MGYCW star Meg Patterson excited about Eagles' premiership hopes

The Maiden Gully YCW goal attack polled 28 votes on Monday night to win Loddon Valley netball's most prestigious award by three votes from Mitiamo's Laura Spence.

It was a fitting reward for the 24-year-old after she was runner-up to her great friend and team-mate Tia Webb in 2022.

"I knew I'd had a similar season to last year, so I was hoping to go well, but I wasn't expecting to win considering how strong our team is across the court,'' Patterson admitted.

"It's tough to squeeze into the top three for votes, so I was surprised to get so many votes. It was a nice surprise though.

"Last year I was just ecstatic for Tia and it was nice for us to celebrate that together.

"This year I was more in shock and completely overwhelmed."

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Patterson and Spence cleared out from the rest of the field and the result came down to the last round where the MGYCW star picked up three votes.

"I thought I had a strong finish to the season,'' Patterson said.

"In my mind I had a slow start to the season, so I was surprised when I picked up a few votes early on.

"I thought I would go okay towards the end, but I knew Laura would poll well all the way through because she's such a phenomenal player.

"I wasn't holding my breath on it, so it was exciting when I got the votes against Serpentine to win it."

Patterson said first-year coach Adam Boldiston had played a key role in her improved individual season and the team's journey to another grand final appearance.

"I've really enjoyed myself this year.

"Adam has been fantastic and he's been great for our club culture. I've really enjoyed the girls that I'm playing with and I feel as though I've learned a lot in my goal attack role.

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"This (medal) is a nice way to finish the home and away season, but we have a lot of work to do now for our main goal (the premiership)."

Patterson started her netball pathway with St Liborius before playing juniors with Sandhurst.

She graduated from 17-and-unders into Sandhurst senior squad where she played in two premierships with the Dragons' B-grade team.

Patterson joined MGYCW in 2020 where she has established herself as one of the best players in the LVFNL.

Her partnership with Webb in the goal ring led the Eagles to the premiership last year and they've caused major headaches again throughout 2023.

"It's great we have a good connection,'' Patterson said of her play with Webb.

"I'm really confident feeding her and how well you feed your shooters can be the difference between winning and losing games.

"Last year a lot of teams went in thinking they could double-team Tia in a bid to shut us down... I've really tried this year to make sure I lift my presence in the game so that it's not easy for teams if they choose to do that.

"If they double-team Tia then it opens up avenues for me to score. We try to keep teams on their toes."

While the Helen Ward Medal win was a proud moment for Patterson, nothing would be sweeter than another premiership medal in 10 days time.

"Last year was so special, so to go back-to-back would be a dream come true,'' Patterson said.

"We've had such a strong season and, hopefully, we can build on that and show just how hard we've worked this year.

"There's a lot of effort that goes on behind the scenes, so it would be nice to reward that effort by having another premiership medal around our necks."

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