Caroline Springs is finally back on top in the Western Football League women’s competition.
After a couple of near misses and grand final heartbreak the past two years, the Lakers completed the perfect season on Saturday.
Yarraville-Seddon, which had come from fourth, gave the Lakers a few nervous moments late in the grand final.
There was a goal in it the match early in the last quarter before the Lakers were able to find some composure to dominate the dying minutes.
A goal to Mira Diab sealed the win on the siren and the premiership for the Lakers, 10.8 (68)-8.3 (51).
Lakers coach Alex O’Shea said it was a pretty special moment.
“It feels relief to be honest,” she said. “We’ve worked hard all year, minor premiers, and Yarraville came into this game with a lot of momentum and we knew that.
“The girls had to be really on today [Saturday]. It was a four quarter performance of footy and we played our game.”
It was a high scoring affair early on with both sides hitting the scoreboard in the opening quarter.
The Lakers led by a goal at the first break.
A five goal to two second quarter really set up the win for the Lakers, who led by 23 points at half time.
The Eagles kept themselves in the game with the only goal of the third quarter with the margin 18 points at the final break.
When the Eagles kicked the first two goals of the last quarter with the margin back to just a goal.
Jacinta Kondis finally got the Lakers first goal of the second half in the 12th minute of the final quarter to steady her side.
The Lakers then had their opportunities as they scored the next four points.
It meant the Eagles needed two goals to win.
They managed to get one back before Diab scored one on the siren to seal the win.
O’Shea said that the Eagles had put them under pressure all day. She had not much voice after a lot of yelling late.
“It wasn’t an easy game, especially in that last quarter,” she said. “There were moments where they took that opportunity
“It got close there. Credit to our girls we got challenged in the game and we kept fighting and fighting, it shows our spirit of our team.
“I’m very proud of the girls.”
O’Shea said they had used the lessons from the past two grand finals, where they had fallen short late.
She said they just needed to be composed in those moments and that was the message to the group.
“From a coaching aspect, you can’t do much when you’re not out there,” she said.
“Just see how it is, make changes if needed be, and some changes needed to be made lucky enough to come up with the win.
“We’ve been in those scenarios before, been challenged late and haven’t been able to get over the line.
“This year we focused on our preparation and as a coaching staff looked at different scenarios and so forth.
“It was good to compose ourselves and get over the line.”
Diab finished with six goals for the Lakers. Akima Manoah was awarded the best on ground medal.
The premiership is the Lakers second having made the last six grand finals.
O’Shea said there was a lot of time that went into the club’s female program.
“The under-18s won their EDFL (Essendon District Football League) premiership last week as well, and we’ve won as well,” she said.
“It shows the strength in numbers that we have at Caroline Springs and a lot of people have put in a lot of time.
“Right from our under-10s program right up to seniors, it’s a credit to everyone at the club for this win today [Saturday].”
The premiership caps off a few big weeks for O’Shea.
Just six weeks ago, O’Shea gave birth to a baby daughter.
“I made it back in time to coach,” she said.
“I’m very grateful to have a lot of people who are supportive and can help out.
“I needed that especially today [Saturday], the training sessions and other games. Very lucky for the support to be able to do what I do.”
