Remember when - round 11
This week in Remember When we go back to the year of 2012 – a year that the Yarrawonga Football Netball Club created its own piece of history.
The Pigeons delivered its first ever netball/football senior premiership double in the same year – joining Wangaratta Rovers (1993 & 94) and Wodonga (2004) as the only clubs to achieve the feat.
For the netballers it was an amazing fourth straight premiership! It was in the golden era of Yarrawonga netball, where they won seven A grade premierships in nine seasons between 2009 – 2017.
The Pigeons 2012 victory was a comfortable 57-35 over Wangaratta Rovers. The average winning margin by the Pigeons over the four premierships was 15 goals. In the B Grade, North Albury beat Albury and in C Grade Wangaratta defeated North Albury 44-34.
Lavington’s young gun Emily Browne took out the Toni Wilson Medal two votes ahead of Lavington’s Sarah Senini and Yarrawonga Kaitlyn Bourke on 19 votes. Wangaratta Rovers Katie Higgs won the B Grade Medal two votes clear of North Albury’s Katie Scammell.
Stacy Tully from Wangaratta was also a two-vote winner ahead of North Albury duo Eloise Maddox and Julia Rossiter. The Diamond Star Rookie of the Year was taken out by Sophie Robertson from North Albury.
The football was completely the opposite scenario for the Pigeons, after having lost three straight premierships to Albury between 2009 and 2011.
The 2012 season also heralded in one of the biggest ever recruits into the SS&A OMFNL with the arrival of AFL superstar Brendan Fevola to the Pigeons.
Fevola did not let the punters down, as crowds flocked to home and away games to witness entertainment at its best. Fev weaved his magic throughout the season, bringing up his 100th goal in the final round.
Fevola, however, did not win the Doug Strang Medal that year, with Wodonga Raiders super boot Patrick Rose also bringing up his century of goals in round eighteen to finish on 101, one ahead of Fev.
On grand final day Yarrawonga held off a late Albury surge to win by 12 points with Craig Ednie winning the Did Simpson Medal for best afield, while Fevola booted five goals. The Pigeons also took out the seconds beating Lavington by 15 points. Wangaratta won a thriller in the 3rds defeating Albury by 3 points.
The Morris Medal was taken out by Albury’s Joel Mackie who polled 27 votes, six ahead of Yarrawonga’s Xavier Leslie. Nathan Lefoe won the Reserves Leo Burke Medal, while Wodonga Raiders Ben Murphy took out the Leo Dean Medal in the Under 18’s. Hayden Filliponi won the Rising Star Award.
