Contributed by Em Warner. 
All roads led to George Park in Bathurst on Saturday, where the stage was set for the Dubbo Demons Women’s team to take-on the Bathurst Bushrangers and attempt to defend their premiership title.
The Lady Dees were well-rested after their week off, but were by no means taking their opponents lightly, knowing that the Bushies would be tough opponents on their home turf.
The Tier Two Men’s clash between the Bathurst Bushrangers and the Cowra Blues was a nail-biter to start the day, which didn’t help to settle the nerves. Cowra took the title home with a one-goal victory and then the field was cleared for the women to begin.
A carefully-prepared banner awaited the girls and let’s just say that it’s a good thing their footy skills are better than their stick figure drawing skills!
It was a nervous start for the Lady Dees with the Bushies hitting the contest hard from the first bounce and putting the pressure on at every contest.
At the end of the first quarter, the Demons had managed only three behinds despite kicking with the wind.
The girls found their form in the second quarter as the nerves subsided. Molly “Milo” Mayall was last year’s Grand Final hero, kicking the winning goal and she was the first one to find the goals in this match.
The contests all around the ground were ferocious and both teams were forced to up their work rates.
The Demon’ backline was as reliable as ever with Speedy (aka Kaitlyn Waldie) making it difficult for the Bushies to get the ball inside their fifty. Em Ross and Rach Fairman combined well to hold off the Bushies attack time and time again on the last line of defence. At half time it was 4-7-31 to 1-1-7 in favour of the Demons.
The Demons forward line was moving well and providing a number of targets. Brooke Garland was welcomed back in to the team after a courageous recovery from her injury in last year’s grand final and she was looking dangerous deep in the forward pocket.
In the head clash between Em Harris and Lucy Thompson from Bathurst, Em Harris emerged victorious (depending on which way you look at it) with the final score of ten stitches to four. Both players showed their bravery and were bandaged up to get back out on the field and help their team.
The Demons had a 21-point lead coming into the final quarter, but were determined not to take the foot off the pedal with Lauren Anasis sending another kick over the goal umpire’s head to stretch the lead. The Bushies weren’t done yet though and replied with a quick goal. Keeghan Tucker was running hard on the wing to help out in defence and the fresh legs of Em Fairman and Orlagh Quigley gave the Demons some extra run.
It was a game of blood, sweat, and tears for both teams but, when the final siren sounded to signal a back-to-back grand final win for the Demons, both teams showed the utmost sportsmanship with the Bushies gracious in defeat and the Demons humble in their victory. The Lady Dees were grateful to all of their supporters for making the effort to travel across to Bathurst and a special “thank-you” to Marty Schlumpf for flying back from Queensland to be the runner for the girls after moving away part-way through the season.
Congratulations to the players, the coaches, the club on a hard-fought victory and we will look forward to celebrating the premiership victory and recapping the events of the weekend at presentation night next Saturday.