There is a new job vacancy within the Timboon Demons’ coaching ranks.
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A grade coach Kelly Gowland said after her side bowed out of the Warrnambool and District league finals with a 50-44 defeat against Dennington on Saturday that she would be stepping down from her role.
“I’ll be around the club but I don’t think I’ll be coaching next year,” she said. “I’ve done three years at the club so it might be time for some fresh blood in the role.
“It’s been a little bit of an era for my family. My sister (Hayley Plozza) coached for three years and I have coached for the subsequent three years.
“In that time we have had a lot of junior development and got players to return to the club, which is something we have worked really hard on and making sure we keep local girls playing at the club.
“We have often lost a lot of players due to them going to other clubs so we would like to make it family friendly and keeping things as local as we can. I’d like to think that is the legacy that we have had.”
Gowland said she was proud of the year her side had, despite falling at the second last hurdle.
“We were able to go on with what we did last year and I think we probably weren’t as consistent as we wanted to be,” she said.
“I think it was a concentration thing that we weren’t able to match it with Nirranda or Dennington this year.
“I’m still happy with the year. My aim was to get to the prelim so I did that but unfortunately we weren’t able to take it one more step.”
For Dennington, it’s now staring history directly in the face.
All the Dogs need to do is find the right ink to etch their name in the A grade netball history books.
Dennington secured its chance to go for a record fourth consecutive premiership flag in the league’s top division with the gritty six-goal victory over the Demons at Reid Oval.
Coach Melissa Burt knows what her side faces next week.
“Nirranda are an extremely talented side so we need to play much better than we did today if we are going to match it with them,” she said.
“It’s always a tough match against them and they say the same coming up against us but it’s back to the drawing board as Nirranda are a different style of play (to Timboon).
“So we will have to find different strategies and go from there.”
Burt was pleased with how her side performed in the six-goal win but lamented the lapses that still crept in.
“We really focused on our individual goals and chipping away and at the end of the day you have 60 minutes and you have to play for the 60 minutes,” she said.
“Sometimes those intercepts and umpire calls don’t go your way until the dying minutes when you really need it, so it was just working hard at our individual jobs, which I thought we did well.
“There were definitely a few lapses. We had some held balls, which can get you down at times but I felt we worked well to get around each other, stay positive and keep working hard.”
Burt thought her centre, Krystal Day, was the Dogs’ best player and commended her effort to run out a full four quarters in her role.
Gowland and Burt both praised their shooters post match. With Lani Keane and Jess Haberfield outstanding for the Dogs, while 19-year-old Laura Rosolin was a standout for the Demons.