Nagambie's Breanna Davison came from the clouds to claim the GMC women's best and fairest award.
Photo by
Jesse Robertson-Torres
For the first time, Goulburn Murray Cricket held its women’s night of nights as a standalone event to celebrate the season that was.
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Ahead of Sunday’s grand final in Cooma between Mooroopna and Nagambie, Moama Bowling Club entertained the competition’s best and fairest event on Wednesday night - and as one might expect, the two teams left standing had plenty to celebrate.
Among an estimated attendance of 120 involving clubs near and far, GMC president Jason Turner opened proceedings while the room was treated to guest interviews involving Shepparton Youth Club United import Sophie Ullah as well as current Victorian representative and Melbourne Renegade Ella Haywood.
There was a raft of individual awards on offer, with Princess Park native Lia Beecroft claiming the bowling title with her 17 wickets.
Shepparton Youth Club United's Lia Beecroft was simply stellar with the ball.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Nagambie dynamo Kayla Shepherd received a champion player award sponsored by Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell before she and three of her teammates graced the stage as part of a Cricket Shepparton-heavy team of the season.
Moama’s Delaney Laffy, who could not attend, was also a prominent feature on the night having collected the batting title and been recognised as the under-21 player of the year, no small feat in such a youthful competition.
The best and fairest count was, of course, the bread and butter of the evening and it still looked a just about wide open count at the halfway point.
Laffy, Shepherd, Mooroopna star Gemma Boyd and the Shepparton duo of Ullah and Mel Saunders firmed as frontrunners, but rounds eight to 13 told a different story as the Moama barometer appeared to skip leaps and bounds clear.
Shepherd and Boyd received less love from the vote-casters during this stretch, but another Laker in Breanna Davison was pulling off significant numbers to throw her hat in the ring late.
It appeared all but done and dusted with two rounds remaining, Laffy sitting five votes clear of Davison and Shepherd while Ullah and Saunders sat on the periphery.
Moama's Delaney Laffy collected two awards and led the best and fairest for most of the night.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Moama’s bye in the penultimate round opened the door and Davison took advantage, scoring full marks in Nagambie’s big win over the combine before putting up another three for her game-breaking knock in the finale against Echuca.
It looked near-impossible, but Davison had snatched the crown and held off Laffy by a single vote, crowned the league best and fairest with 23 to her name.
When asked in the aftermath if she had foreseen anything like this, her response was simple.
“Definitely not,” Davison said.
“I thought Kayla and Kait (Carracher) might have polled well, so I turned out mostly for some team support.
“More towards the back end of the season, I was able to find some consistency.
“The season started off a bit nervously, but as a group, we gained a lot of confidence.
“It spread from Kayla and Kait to me and then everyone else; we all just played our role.”
Of course, Davison and her colleagues had one eye on finishing the job as a collective as well.
Mooroopna is no comfortable side to take on at the best of times, but echoing the comments of coach Blair Taylor-Lloyd, Davison wanted to lavish praise on her squad’s dedication.
“I’ve played a few team sports, and this is the best bunch of girls I’ve ever played with,” Davison said.
“Their attitude and commitment to show up is second to none, and in my first season at Nagambie, the improvement is massive.
“Credit goes to the girls who played last year and made that commitment again.
“Mooroopna deserves to be favourites but it’s anyone’s game come Sunday, so we’ll go out there and give it our best crack.
“It’s good that we’ve got the experience we have, and the future looks bright for Nagambie.”
