Monbulk Football Netball Club

Senior Football

Monbulk finished the H&A season with eight wins and eight losses, resulting in a 5^th spot finish.

In the first round of finals, they came up against Olinda Ferny Creek and fell agonisingly short, by the smallest of margins.

This followed their two clashes against OFC during the H&A season which were also super tight.

Finishing 5^th out of nine teams is about right as apart from two games (beating Woori in Round 5 and losing to Upwey Tecoma in Round 16), they beat the weaker sides and lost to the stronger sides.

Taylor Joyce kicked 37 goals and Glenn Strachan managed 30 of his own.

A few other standout players for the season were Thomas Taylor, Lachlan Beecroft, Pat Barge and Joshua Spencer.

Strachan and Taylor both made team of the year after fantastic seasons, they were listed as Centre and Halfback Flank respectively.

Monbulk were ranked second for hitouts with 51, just one behind Premiers Narre Warren, however they only had half the amount of hitouts to advantage as Narre Warren, with just nine per game.

They would hope to transform hitout dominance to clearance dominance going forward. This and a continued forward half pressure that had them amass the most forward 50 tackles per game, could push them higher up the ladder next season.

The reserves didn’t have much luck, with just one win and 15 losses, finishing ninth for the season.

 

Women’s team

The women’s team took out the Conference 2 Premiership, after defeating Belgrave by one goal.

They finished 7^th on the ladder (combination of div/conference 1 and 2), winning four games and losing seven.

Monbulk beat Belgrave by 15 points in the last round. However, Belgrave returned serve and smashed Monbulk 37 to 9 in Round 1 of the Finals. It was Monbulk who had the last laugh, winning the match that mattered most.

Monbulk didn’t manage to beat any of the Conference 1 teams, however they fared well against other Conference 2 sides, winning four of those six encounters (H&A).

Kathryn Gow (CHF), Molly Horne and Maddison Dodd all were acknowledged for their great seasons, with their place in Team of the Year.

 

Netball

Monbulk enjoyed a solid year on the court, finishing 4^th but ultimately losing in the first week of finals to Wandin by 20.

This was a disappointing finish after a decent H&A season, in which Monbulk had beaten 3^rd placed ROC twice and had tied with Olinda Ferny Creek (Premiers) back in Round 4. They were 1-1 head-to-head against Wandin (5^th) who knocked them out of the finals.

Averaging around 45 goals a game was a solid result, however they leaked goals at times, conceding more than six other teams, including three teams that finished below them.

Stephanie Puopolo shot 496 goals for the season and was rewarded with being named Goal Shooter in Team of the Year. Tarnee Adams shot 189 from just eight matches and Sophie Stubbs shot 135 from 17 games.

As well as Puopolo, Paige Whitworth (GD) had a phenomenal season as did Nicole McDowell. Tiana Mancarella and Sophie Stubbs also enjoyed solid seasons.

Eight players were amongst the best players on at least at two occasions each, showing how strong the squad is.

The B grade side enjoyed a strong season, making a Preliminary Final.

 

Written by Jordan Peeler