AMANDA Edwards and Wade Hancock both know that their respective Wentworth A-grade netball and senior football teams are playing for much more than themselves and their clubs in today’s SFNL grand finals.
The small towns of Wentworth and Dareton, where the club plays out of, along with other parts of the local government area will be riding every bump, bruise and goal in the day’s two biggest games at Mildura Sporting Precinct.
Both top-grade playing coaches have a great sense of history, and realise what a premiership win would mean to the communities which support them so vehemently.
“I’ve been looking back to 2012 when the senior boys and the A-grade girls were both in the grand finals, and it was such a huge year for the whole community,” said 35-year-old Edwards, who was in the Roos’ last A-grade netball premiership win in 2016.
“I played in that 2012 grand final and unfortunately we lost, but the boys won.
“It was so good for the club, the juniors coming through and the town itself.
“Ten years on, and we’re both back in the same situation again. It’s really exciting times.”
The Roos have won six senior football flags since it entered the Sunraysia league in 1957, with last two coming in 2009 and 2012.
Hancock, who played in the 2009 triumph, is acutely aware what premiership glory would mean to the broader Wentworth community.
“It’s just something that can unite a community,” the inspirational forward said.
“It means so much to so many people, especially coming out of the toughest three years in many people’s lives.
“That sense of belonging is so important to the community. We want to do them proud.”
Edwards is a dental nurse, but it certainly hasn’t been like pulling teeth in getting her players to buy into her coaching strategies this season.
Her side goes into today’s grand final against 2019 defending premiers Ouyen United on the back of 17 straight wins in 2022.
And, just like Hancock, she leads by example in supreme fashion.
It was a bit stiff to miss out on the league’s A-grade best-and-fairest honour, but Edwards’ individual numbers in 2022 have been incredible.
She’s streets ahead in the shooting stakes, draining a whopping 667 goals in the regular season at an average of 42 goals a game.
The next-best shooter was Merbein’s Rebecca Harvey with 420 goals at an average of 23 goals.
It’s not just her deadly shooting that catches the eye. For those watching her in today’s grand final, pay attention to how well she out-bodies her opponents and puts herself in the right spots on the court.
The mum of two young boys will face a key match-up against Kangas’ ace defender Catherine Brown, but it’s hard to see how the Ouyen defence can contain her.
Similarly, Hancock has put up good numbers this season.
He’s the senior football competition’s leading goal kicker with 73 goals in 16 games.
His team put together an impressive 11 straight wins to open their 2022 campaign, but faltered late in the home-and-away season before beating’s today’s opponents, Irymple, in the preliminary final.
Asked what the keys to victory were today, Hancock, who has won three of the four grand finals he’s played in, said: “It’s the mental side of it.
“The team that rocks up on the day and who is willing to do what it takes to get the win will come out on top.
“It’s not going to be a day where the ball is pinging back and forth with free-flowing footy. It’ll be tough, high-pressure footy.
“I talk about moments to the players, and each individual winning their moment. I’ll really just try to simplify their thought process, which has worked this year.”
Edwards has also tried to keep it simple since her team started pre-season training before Christmas.
But, tellingly, the former Mildura Heat player has also adopted a basketball mentality to her netball coaching.
It’s a kind of “total netball”, where players can’t just see themselves as an attacker or defender,” she said.
“I want the players to strongly contest the ball and do two things.
“If you’re an attacker, you need to also be defending strongly, and vice-versa. Players aren’t just in one position, and we’ve worked hard on this all year.”
The Kangas beat the Roos in the last A-grade netball grand final back in 2019. But Edwards says there are no ghosts of the past.
“No, we’re a different team now,” she said. “We’ve got girls who are new to the club and other girls leave due to babies and other things.
“I think we’ve changed a lot since then. We’re all giving a bit more now, and that’s that full-court pressure, which has been a key thing for us.”
Sunraysia Daily asked both Edwards and Hancock what the final messages will be to their teams today.
“Enjoy it. Some really good players can go through their whole career without playing in a grand final, so it’s something to be soaked up,” Edwards said.
“I’ll be telling the players to keep doing what we have done well all season and to keep backing ourselves.”
Hancock will take it up a notch with a battle cry to his troops.
“I’ll tell them to enjoy the experience … but also that this is war and the bloke next to you is in war with you,” he said.
“We need to do whatever it takes to get the ultimate success because there are a lot of people invested in our journey and we have a responsibility to do well for them.”
