Tara Murray
City West Falcons Jane Cook rewrote the Victorian Netball League record books on Wednesday night.
The star championship division shooter put up her 1000th goal for the season in the third quarter, becoming what is believed to be the first person to achieve that in the VNL.
Cook needed 56 goals going into the game, with her teammates well aware of that and throwing her plenty of ball.
She finished with 63 for the match, earning a well earned rest in the final quarter.
Cook said she could have never imagined shooting that many goals in a second.
“Originally I just wanted to beat last year’s tally,” she said. “We got to that the coach is like, Toddy [Jacinta Todd] had worked out the stats and was like, on average you could get 1000.
“We kept it on the low, good to it in the final game of the season.”
Cook averaged nearly 46 goals a game for the regular season, the best outing a perfect 86 from 86 against the Peninsula Waves.
It was her highest individual total in a game.
“The closest I had come was 80 in a county league game somewhere.”
While Cook is the one doing a lot of the shooting she knows that she can’t do it without her teammates.
She was quick to give them praise.
“They have a lot of faith in me which is good,” she said. “I couldn’t shoot a 1000 goals without then, obviously our defenders getting the ball.,
“And then our middies and all the other attackers getting the ball in and having the faith to feed to me.
“It’s certainly not a solo achievement, simply a team one.”
Cook, like many on the side lines, shakes her head at some of the passes that are thrown to her, “especially from Maggie [Lind].”
She said they usually seem to go where they need to go, so it all works out.
Cook has been part of the Falcons for more than a decade.
The only time the 200 centimetre shooter has played elsewhere was when she was part of the Adelaide Thunderbirds squad in 2017.
She said the Falcons were home.
“They’re my family,” she said. “They’re just pretty much the second family home away from home really being not from Melbourne originally.
“So I love it. I think particularly I’ve played with Maggie for years now so having her and then the team and just the culture that our head coach [Marg Lind] brings and filters down from her, it’s something special.
“You certainly won’t find that at any other club.”
While Cook has reached the 1000 goal milestone and wrapped up another hot shot award, it’s only the beginning of things for her this season.
The Falcons claimed the minor premiership and will go into finals as red hot favourites.
The side is keen to make it three championships in a row.
“Team focus now heading into finals,” she said. “Taking it week by week, game by game.
“We see finals as season two, part two of the season.”
