The Nunawading Gold Netball side won yet another premiership in a dominant season while the club had their first ever Senior Women’s side in the Eastern Football Netball League.
By Ryan Long
Nunawading (Division 4 Senior Men’s)
Ladder Position: 7th (0-16, 32.59%)
Leading Goalkicker: Brooklyn Gebel-Lamb (23)
Summary:
Despite some early season promise, the Lions were unable to register a win in season 2022. The group missed a big opportunity in their first game of the Home and Away season when they lost by just five points to Croydon North MLOC. The Lions followed that up with a very competitive performance against Kilsyth but struggled to play many full four-quarter performance for the rest of the year.
Key Players:
Cooper Winter was one of Nunawading’s most consistent players across the course of the season, finishing in the best nine times from 16 games. Along with Winter, Christopher Finnie, Ryan Hardy and Connor Mcnamara all have very positive years featuring in the best constantly.
Youngster Brooklyn Gebel-Lamb finished the season as their main goal-kicker with 23 goals for the season.
Off-Season Focus:
Nunawading has made some big changes already with former Lions Coach Frank Salanitri returning to the club, replacing Ryan Dobson and Jeff Gallagher. Salanitri has had a lot of coaching experience and success including making two Grand Finals in the VAFA.
With Salanitri at the helm, the Lions will be aiming to be busy over the off-season recruiting more players for the senior side. The club will especially be looking to recruit another key forward with Brooklyn Gebel-Lamb committing to the Ringwood Football Club in 2023.
It’s certainly a big task to turn things around but the club are in safe hands with Salanitri who will do everything it takes to get some wins on the board next season.
Nunawading Senior Women’s
Ladder Position: 5th (5-7, 57.24%)
Leading Goal Kicker: Miranda Marshall (8)
Summary:
A great success for the club this year was the first-ever senior women’s side in the Eastern Football Netball League. The call to start a team occurred back in August of 2021 and soon the side was formed with only a handful of players there having played EFNL footy before.
Without any expectations coming into the season, the girls had a great year, winning five out of their twelve matches in Division Three. The girls were just one game and percentage short of making the Finals in a season that was all about development.
Key Players:
Featured in the side’s best most frequently was Miranda Marshall. A great season where she led the club’s goal kicking while finishing in the best eight times from ten matches. Lauren Demarte wasn’t too far behind with six goals and six times in the best. Miliana Naicori and Emily Whalan were two of the other standouts for the Lions in the club’s debut season.
Best Win: Round 4 – Nunawading 7.1 43 def. Mitcham 3.0 18 @Walker Park
Just a week after the club’s first win in the EFNL against Mooroolbark, the Lions flexed their muscles with a commanding win over the Tigers away from home. The 25-point win was set up off the back of a great first half, keeping Mitcham scoreless. Elise Dowler had a day out, kicking a bag of four goals while Sutherland, Farago and Demarte all had one each.
Off-Season Focus:
Like many of the other clubs in the division, there will be an overall focus over the break to maintain the current group while continuing to develop their skills. Considering how close they were to qualify for the Finals, Nunawading would believe that they would be a big chance next season with the current group of girls.
Netball Review
Section 4 – Nunawading Lions Gold
Ladder Position: 1st (16-1, 175.07%)
A fantastic season for Nunawading who was crowned the Section Four Premiers in season 2022. The side lost only one game all season, all the way back in Round Two against Montrose, losing by just one point. They went undefeated for the rest of the year, scoring at least 40 points a total of six times while keeping opposition teams to under 20 points eight times.
Making the Finals, the Lions defeated Park Orchards twice in both the Semi Final and Grand Final. On Grand Final Night, the girls won comfortably by 12 points with Ashleigh Clifford awarded the Blue Ribbon Medal for her best on-court performance. It’s the third time that the side has won a premiership, twice previously in 2018 and 2019.
Rebekah Breukers was the club’s leading goal shooter with 429 goals, having 48 goals in the side’s two Finals matches. Melanie Van Zuyden was the side’s next-best shooter, finishing with 117 goals from 16 games.
A very proud achievement for the Gold team and the entire club as a whole.
Section 7 – Nunawading Lions Maroon
Ladder Position: 8th (0-16, 19.20%)
Unfortunately for the Maroon side, the girls couldn’t register a win in season 2022. Both Cathryn Hall and Lauren Mackie finished the season with 20 goals each.
