By Justin Flynn
Belmont Lions Division 3 coach Nicholas Allison said his side’s premiership was a win for the entire club.
The Lions won a low-scoring thriller by five points against Modewarre 1.7(13) to 1.2(8).
“There were a big dump of emotions, but (it was) bloody amazing,” Allison said.
“It’s actually an amazing place to be part of. Just everybody celebrates each other’s success and you looked around (the ground) and there would have been at least a couple of thousand Belmont people there on Sunday. All the footballers were there, all the netballers. But what was really cool to see was that everybody packed up from Lara and went straight back to St Albans for the netballers as well.
“I said this up on the dais, this is one of four hopefully and unfortunately the netballers are out, but our focus now is helping the boys and hopefully they can feel the same success and to bring the cup back to the club after 17 years of really struggling to have a relevance. They’re relevant now. And it’s a great place to be. It is just so much fun.”
Allison praised his players for grinding out the game in warm and windy conditions where no goals were scored after quarter time.
Allison said Belmont scored a goal that was awarded a behind and then changed back to a goal, only for it to revert back to a behind at three quarter time.
“It was very frustrating because in a tight contest to have that taken away really hurt,” he said.
“But full credit goes to the girls. I probably let it frustrate me more than what the girls did. They stuck to the task and just went back to the training that we’d done. Full credit to all of them.”
Scores were level at the last change, but Belmont managed five behinds in a frantic last term where Allison said one goal “would have been like six”.
“If the ball is going through our points, we were still able to set up zones and structures and defend,” Allison said.
“The ball did go down into their forward line for a good five and a half minutes and it sat at that 10 to 20 metres out for that period of time. But the girls worked so hard just to get the ball out onto the defensive side and then work it back up.
“They did so well. Just staying calm and going back to our process and believing in it.”
DIVISION 3
Belmont Lions 1.7(13) def Modewarre 1.2(8)
Goals: Belmont Lions – Charlotte Mitchell. Modewarre – Monique Martin.
Best: Belmont Lions – Bri Apma Hayes, Saralou Gregoire, Ashleigh Feehan, Ebony Lillico, Grace Wright-Janocha, Rachael Kirtley. Modewarre – Natalie Amalfi, Clodagh Newton, Sarah Wallace, Monique Martin, Lily Bowers, Clementine Thomson.
