Castlemaine Football Netball Club’s senior netball sides are thrilled to make their return to Bendigo Football Netball League finals action this weekend for the first time in a decade.
When Castlemaine recruited former Adelaide Thunderbirds, dual Commonwealth Games and World Cup netballer Fiona Fowler, and former Victorian Men’s netballer and long time coach Gary Cooke for the 2022 Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL) season, the challenge to resurrect the club with an A Grade team and make finals was never going to be an easy goal to achieve.
They set out to recruit as many local players back to the club as possible and hit the ground running at the start of the year with a fitness and skills orientated heavy pre-season training program.
For the first time since 2017, Castlemaine was starting the season with an A Grade team filled with a mix of experience and youth, plus three other full squads in the remaining senior grades in the competition.
An exciting 17 and Under team full of local players topped off a full roster of netballers for the club. And since the season started there has been no looking back!
The first half of the season was hit with injuries, Covid, work commitments and pregnancy, however nothing was going stop the new look Castlemaine squad from reaching their goal of playing finals. The last time the club managed to make an appearance in the finals was in 2013 where the A Grade team was eliminated in the first round.
A reasonably successful first half of the 2022 season proved the catalyst for setting up the A Grade squad for a powerful second half of the year. With the return of Fowler from the birth of her second child in late April, the belief that Castlemaine could and would achieve their goal became more evident as the wins on the scoreboard increased and provided more confidence in what this new look team is capable of.
Pushing all the top four teams through the season, it was the round 14 dominant win over fourth placed South Bendigo that made the competition take notice.
Heading into the final round of the season last Saturday, Castlemaine were faced with the enormous task of playing three time reigning premiers and ladder leaders Sandhurst. After a slow start and the score being doubled, the decision was made to call on the bench and mix up the Magpie line-up.
Castlemaine managed to turn the game into a more competitive spectacle. Nine goals down at half time, there was a feeling that the game was starting to swing their way.
The second half saw Castlemaine take control of the game, from their dominance in defence, the speed through the mid court and the accuracy in goals, Sandhurst were overwhelmed by an effective and composed Magpies. In the dying seconds they scored the winning goal to run out victors 47 to 46 leaving their opponents stunned.
With finals kicking off at the Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo this weekend, Castlemaine have achieved an incredible result with both their A Grade and A Reserve team finishing fourth on the ladder. This makes history for the club by having their two senior teams heading into their first finals appearance in almost 10 seasons.
Co-Coach and player Fiona Fowler said they are thrilled.
“We are just so proud of the players and all the hard work they have put in this season. Reaching our goal of making finals is the result of all the work and effort they have put in,” she said.
Co-Coach Gary Cooke they are absolutely ready for finals.
“We look forward to every challenge that is thrown our way. We have every confidence that we can match it with the top teams, just like we have done throughout the season,” he said.
Both our Castlemaine Magpie sides will play off against South Bendigo at the Queen Elizabeth Oval (QEO) on Sunday August 28 with A Reserve to hit the court at side at 2pm and A Grade at 3.20pm.