Golden Square women's first XI skipper Tammy Norquay has described her team's grand final win as "one of our best all-round performances we've put together."
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Heading into a game Norquay believed was a toss-of-the-coin matchup, the reigning premiers' big game experience proved vital as they romped to a 66-run victory against a strong Bendigo side.
Having won the flag last year undefeated, the Bulldogs were posed with a far greater challenge in 2023-24, losing two games, including to the Goers in their previous meeting.
But it is these hurdles that Norquay told the Bendigo Advertiser that made this season's triumph extra sweet.
"We've been challenged and knew we couldn't rely on only a couple of players like we did last season," Norquay said.
"Last season, some players didn't get a bat, but everyone this year has contributed with the blade at some stage.
"After those losses, I also put big ownership on our bowling group, requiring each of them to have a plan and take charge of the fields they set.
"Going in, I thought it was a toss-the-coin match, so to win so convincingly on the biggest stage makes all those trials worth it."
In that round 11 defeat to the Goers, the Bulldogs fielding left plenty to be desired.
With a strong batting lineup, the focus for Norquay's side in the month leading into the decider was predominately fielding-based, and it proved fruitful.
The Bulldogs were everywhere in the field, taking the three crucial wickets of top-order batters Dannielle Flood, Ren Haeusler and Kylie Trimble through runouts.
"The last month, we've done some big fielding sessions as we were pretty confident our batting lineup was in good shape," Norquay said.
"The games we lost this season were in the field, and I told the team beforehand that with both sides having strong batting lineups, this would be won by the team that bowled and fielded better.
"We got those early runouts, and as a captain, I couldn't have asked more from my bowlers, so it was great to put in that all-round performance when it mattered most."
Opening bowler Megan Baird (3-20 off 5.0) was superb with the ball, while Sarah Mannes completed a brilliant day by taking 2-14 off 5.0 to go along with her 43 runs.
Norquay said the bowling cartel did precisely what was required of them.
"We had our bowling plans and wanted to play a bit of boring cricket," she said.
"We knew Ren (Haeusler) and Atomic (Wylder) were their two key batters, so we put the fielders on the boundary to make them play bigger shots.
"Our aim was to bowl nice lines because they can hit the ball hard, and anything short will likely be punished, so the plan was full outside off, which we executed perfectly."
Earlier, Norquay (25) partnered with Mannes (43) and Sarah Perry (45 not out) to build the bulk of the Bulldogs 5-134.
Norquay lauded the efforts of player of the match Mannes and top-scorer Perry.
"As an opening bat, when you've got the likes of Sarah Perry to come, it allows you to play your natural game, so Sarah Mannes - who was incredible - and I got us off to a good start, and Perry came in and just saw ball, hit ball."
