Last weekend capped off an incredible season for the Goulburn Stockmen under 17 girls’ side, as they swept the grand final, 22-12, to emerge from the year without a single defeat.
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The Stockmen took on the Gungahlin Bulls in Sunday’s final, who they had played three times prior in 2018.
The most recent match between the pair was the semi-final a fortnight prior which Goulburn scraped through by two points.
“It was a very hard game, and I expected Gungahlin to come out and be playing really, really hard [on Sunday],” Stockmen coach George Gibson said.
Although they knew that the Bulls would come out firing, the Stockmen were assured of their superior fitness and built their game plan around that strength.
“We were just gonna try and get Gungahlin chasing the ball, kick up over their heads and get them turning around to run back,” Gibson said.
“[We wanted to] try and tire them out, use a bit of our fitness against them. Just keep the play going against the [Gungahlin] girls, don’t slow things down. Our fitness is pretty strong, and we wanted to use that.”
The Stockmen were comfortably in control of most of the match, and Gibson said that the girls celebrated wildly when the final buzzer rang.
“All the girls were hugging each other,” Gibson said.
“They were absolutely stoked. And then of all things, my daughter [Courtney-Lee Picker] got the Player of the Match award, which is selected by the officials.”
Picker won the award for her two tries, which were crucial in giving Goulburn its 10-point lead which proved to be the difference.
In other junior Grand Finals from last weekend, Goulburn sides enjoyed a number of successes:
- Under 12 Zone 1 – Goulburn Stockmen Blue 20 d Valley Dragons 10.
- Under 11 Zone 2 – Goulburn Stockmen Maroon 28 d Cooma Colts 24.
- Under 11 Zone 1 – Goulburn Stockmen Blue 30 d West Belconnen Green 22.
- Under 10 Zone 1 – Tuggeranong Buffaloes Gold 24 d Goulburn Stockmen Blue 18.
- Under 14 Zone 1 – Gungahlin Bulls Gold 20 d Goulburn Stockmen 10.