JACKIE Smedts spent the week leading up to her dual-premiership coaching feat dreaming of the perfect way to bow out from coaching at North Warrnambool Eagles.
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It involved two premiership cups, feelings of joy, reward and unity among her junior charges and sharing the sport’s highest honour with her partner in crime and co-coach, Dot Jenkins.
She achieved just that.
Smedts and Jenkins led both North Warrnambool Eagles’ under 15 and under 17 premiership triumphs on Saturday, guiding the club to its own little piece of history.
They guided the Eagles to a one point triumph in the under 15s, running out 26 to 25 winners over Camperdown, while they masterminded an eight-goal turnaround to force their under 17s bout with Hamilton Kangaroos into overtime.
From there, the Eagles were unstoppable, piling on a barrage of goals to run away with a three-goal victory.
For Smedts, who announced she will step down in the moments after the Eagles’ under 17 side secured victory, it was the completion of a dynasty.
“We’re a bit gobsmacked. We’re in a dream, we’ve had a perfect ending,” Smedts told The Standard.
“I think it was eight goals or something (the margin in the last quarter) but we aren’t focusing too much on the score in the game. We’re looking at the negatives and trying to fix them.
“The girls bought their best game. We have two goalers that are not here, so we had four under 15s players step up to play the under 17s game.
“They could only play two quarters because they’d played four in the under 15s. One of our goalers is in France, on a school trip, and the other is at Rock to Reef on another school trip.”
It was without success in other grades, but Camperdown has created history in becoming the first club to take out the inaugural Hampden division three title. The Magpies emerged as six-goal winners over Koroit, shooting 27 to 21 to take out the victory.
“This is special because we said coming in we wanted a slice of own history,” Magpies division three coach Jess Van den Eynde said.
"If it wasn’t for this division a lot of the girls probably wouldn’t be playing at the club, so it’s brilliant in that sense.”
Port Fairy’s historic A grade premiership was underpinned by the Seagulls’ five-goal triumph in the division two grand final.
Seagulls coach Allahna Edwards said it was a relief to walk away with the 28-23 win after Camperdown challenged, particularly after a strong challenge in the second term that saw the lead change a few times.
But Port Fairy finished strongly, getting out to an 11-goal lead before a strong finish from the Magpies cut the final margin back to five.
“I did get a bit worried – the heart rate went up a little (in the second quarter),” Edwards said.
“I was glad when the whistle blew, that’s for sure.
“It’s been a long season and the competition’s been tougher this year – everyone has been a lot closer. So to get here and take it out again is just a massive relief.”
In the under 13s netball grand final, the Trish Pattison-coached South Warrnambool secured the victory of their season, emerging as two-goal winners over Koroit. The Roosters shot 29 to 27 to lift the cup.