The Goulburn Valley League is undeniably one of the premier club-level destinations for netball in Victoria, and the girls have results to show for it, given impressive recent turnouts at Association Championship events.
That’s one advantage the netball contingent has over its counterparts on the ovals — the swathe of meets for inter-regional mingling and match-ups that prove one area’s supremacy over another.
Yes, of course, there was also a Premium Wednesdays dedicated to re-establishing this very concept in a footballing sphere months ago, but we’d be going off-track to delve any further into that now.
Much as with last week, the premise is simple: we stack the 2023 and 2024 GVL A-grade netballing teams of the year opposite one another, both of which were News-appointed.
The next step is to subtract anybody who doubled up with selections in both teams — and unlike with the football one, there was a significant amount of crossover despite having a third of the personnel.
Though star Murray Bomber Belinda Lees qualified for the 2024 team in goal attack, her inclusion as coach of the 2023 side takes her off the court entirely.
Of course, there were a handful of more-than capable contributors inside the attacking arc, but there was admittedly a fair degree of overhaul with many stars reprising their high standards in back-to-back years.
Both squads retain access to their respective season’s Wellman Family medallists, though, with Seymour defender Sarah Sczcykulski and Shepparton ace goaler Kim Borger on opposite sides.
The News’ 2023 GVL Netball Team of the Year
GK: Sarah Szczykulski (Seymour)
GD: Tylah Marchbank (Euroa)
WD: Casey Adamson (Seymour)
C: Elsie Boyer (Tatura)
WA: Asha Gray (Mooroopna)
GA: Teal Hocking (Rochester)
GS: Sheridan Townrow (Echuca)
Bench: Steph Vick (Echuca), Hollie Reid (Kyabram), Maddison Wong (Mooroopna), Jane Cook (Shepparton)
Coach: Belinda Lees (Echuca)
2023
What an outfit, to put it simply.
The 2023 side, drafted primarily by Aydin Payne, features everything you would wish for in a starting seven — experience meshed with youth, Victorian Netball League calibre on every line and even some who have stepped beyond that realm.
Casey Adamson, who we now know will lead the Lions’ A-grade outfit in 2025, presents plenty of on-field leadership while Lees, the actual appointed boss for this side, would have done a fine job inside the arc all the same.
What a one-two punch of youthful fire in the next two positions as Elsie Boyer and Asha Gray, set to suit up together with the Bendigo Strikers in 2025, took the centre and wing attack bibs.
It was a good year to be a goaler in the north-west of our region, with an imposing all-Campaspe duo of Hocking and Townrow threatening to virtually any defence.
The News’ 2024 GVL Netball Team of the Year - amended
GK: Dayna Williams (Mooroopna)
GD: Caitlin McLachlan (Mooroopna)
WD: Molly Kennedy (Tatura)
C: Mia Fallon (Mooroopna)
WA: Laura Cole (Shepparton United)
GA: Ellie Fuhrmeister (Seymour)
GS: Kim Borger (Shepparton)
Bench: Olivia Morris (Euroa), Mia Sudomirski (Euroa), Molly Boyle (Tatura), Ellie Warnock (Euroa)
Coach: Ellie Warnock (Euroa)
2024
As for the 2024 side, which lost several members to the prior season, it almost feels... blasphemous not to include any drought-breaking Euroa premiership players in the starting seven?
It was a Magpie outfit which rose to the top off the whole rather than the sum of its parts, though Hollie Reid had originally been earmarked for the team.
Mooroopna’s miserly defence would set up a tantalising pair of duels as Williams, who missed the 2023 season through injury, clashes with Townrow while McLachlan battles Hocking.
It’s pace, pace, pace through the midcourt with a contingent you might miss on the transition if you so much as blink, with Wellman Family runner-up Mia Fallon — now set to ply her trade down in the Bellarine league — at the heart of the operation.
You’ve got a wealth of elite experience in the arc as well with a one-two punch of former Lions coach Fuhrmeister and newly minted Bears boss Borger — and if that’s not enough for you, there’s casually a near 1000-goal dynamo on the pine in Morris.
Three Magpies feature among the four substitutes — although even that hardly feels like enough, given the team’s achievements.
2023 defenders vs 2024 goalers: They may start wearing bibs which don’t match up, but seeing Szczykulski and Fuhrmeister collide would be a treat.
Anyhow, Borger is a damaging attacker in her own right with the credentials to back it up, and there may well just be too much goalscoring firepower to contain here. 1-0 2024
2023 midcourt vs 2024 midcourt: Boyer and Fallon would have been just about the most exciting centre match-up possible around the league, and it’s a shame we won’t see that in 2025.
It’s give-and-go dynamism scattered throughout these two trios, but Adamson and Gray’s knowledge and strength on either flank should offer enough quality to control the middle. 1-1
2023 goalers vs 2024 defenders: The Cats’ iron curtain is among the most formidable club duos you’d find anywhere in regional netball, with Mooroopna benefitting week in and week out through a league-best goals conceded tally.
Townrow’s prowess under the ring was a key part of Echuca’s 2023 successes, and Hocking offers every bit the quintessential mobile threat of a goal attack, but the girls in blue have both the chemistry and individual prowess necessary to provide the edge. 2-1 2024
