The Cowra Blues Senior Women’s side saw their season end in an elimination final loss, with fatigue from a lack of interchange proving costly.
Despite the result, the team earned high praise for their determination, improvement, and unity throughout their time back in the Central West AFL competition.
Coach Marc Hyland said the game was decided by numbers.
“It came down to player numbers,” he said.
“I think because Orange had a pretty healthy interchange, where they could have fresh legs coming on and off the field.”
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“As per the whole season, we’ve just battled with no interchange, really.”
“We just ran out of legs,” he said.
The match remained tight until the final quarter, with neither side managing to score a goal for most of the game.
“For the whole game itself, we were in it,” Hyland said.
“It was shortly into the last quarter where Orange got a couple of big goals and took the game.”
“If we kicked a goal, it’d be a different story,” he said.
Despite running out of steam late, the coach praised the squad for their effort under pressure.
“Everybody stepped up,” he said.
“Went above and beyond what they played like all year and everybody rose to the occasion of finals football,” Hyland said.
Still, accuracy in front of goal was a major issue.
Both sides had plenty of chances but failed to capitalise.
“Neither team scored a goal until the last quarter,” Hyland said.
“Everything up until then was missed shots at goal.”
For Hyland, the loss was far from the only takeaway.
He said the players’ progress across the year was more important than the final score.
“I was actually very impressed,” Hyland said.
“These girls have come such a long way since I started coaching, and to see them out there where they’re up to now is rewarding, because you know that you’re actually getting through and everybody’s progressing,” he said.
Camaraderie and team spirit were among the biggest highlights of the season.
“These girls can turn even the biggest loss into a celebration, so the highlights for the team, I would say, is how they’ve all come together,” Hyland said.
“The camaraderie around everyone, getting around each other on and off the field, it’s been really good.”
When asked what he might change, Hyland pointed to fitness as an area that could have been given more focus.
“Once our preseason was finished, we kind of took a fair bit of emphasis off the fitness side of things,” he said.
“We relaxed on it a little bit, so if I could go back, I’d bring that more into the season’s training as well.”
Hyland also spoke about the biggest lesson learned, saying, “the main lesson we all would have learned was not to give up”.
“There’s been a few games where we’ve lost it by a very small margin, and it’s just like I said, we’ve just run out of legs when we needed them the most,” he said.
He admitted he, too, has plenty of room to grow, saying, “I have a lot of room for improvement”.
“Playing and coaching in their own respects all have a growth period and room to grow.”
“As a coach, I’ve learned as much as the players have in my own areas, and it’s all stuff that I can work on,” Hyland said.
Looking to next year, Hyland said the team has already laid strong foundations, especially around their competitive edge.
“What the team’s done well this season, I would say, is our aggressiveness towards the football,” he said.
“Our hunger to win the contests has really improved.”
“So we can build on that going into next year.”
“Being first there and first getting it, if we can control that, we can really improve,” Hyland said.
In closing, Hyland wanted to make sure the players understood how far they’d come.
“Congratulations to the team,” he said.
“This is the first year since the women have been back in the Central West AFL that we’ve made finals.”
“It’s all progress, and I hope that everybody’s really proud,” Hyland said.
