Koroit's Emily-Rose Dobson proud of club milestone ahead of Hampden league qualifying final

The open grade co-captain will play her 100th club game for the Saints in Saturday's Hampden league qualifying final against Cobden.

Dobson, a 180-gamer with previous stints at Warrnambool and South Warrnambool, said Koroit was a place she and husband Sam, a senior footballer, saw themselves "being forever".

"We absolutely love Koroit," she said. "(Sam and I) we met at Koroit and we've got our little boy Freddie, and so many of our friends all have kids at the club. It's a great family club and I think a lot of (Koroit's) success comes down to that."

The three-time premiership player returned to Koroit's line up this season after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and maternity leave. Joining her back on court has been fellow captain Kasey Barling, who had son Jude nine days apart from Dobson with Freddie.

"It's been really good to do that together," Dobson said. "It's been a nice outlet for me to have something to look forward to other than being a mum or work."

The chiropractor said there had been "some niggles" with the body since stepping back on court, while she also missed six games with a dislocated and fractured finger.

But her experience is critical to the equilibrium of the Kate Dobson-coached team, which boasts several talented junior players.

"Koroit has some unbelievable juniors through the ranks, from under 13s up," Dobson said. "It's nice to have Kasey in defence, me in the midcourt and Nell (Mitchell) and Rachel (Dobson) in attack. It balances it out to then bring some of the younger girls through the wings and defence."

Dobson is anticipating a tough match against Cobden on Saturday. She said the Saints needed to focus on the basics.

"We've always played well when we've played a nice slow, controlled game," she said. "If we do that and all our decision making is good, we'll be fine."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard: