Medal-winning interleague performance for van Egmond

REDAN’S Emma van Egmond might only have played 31 senior women’s football games in total, but she’s made every single one of them count.

The 22-year-old has been named in her side’s best players in at least 15 of those games and has quietly but effectively collected a pair of medals along the way.

The second of those was won last weekend, when she was voted best on ground by the umpires in the BFLW’s watershed interleague triumph over the Bendigo-centered Central Victorian Football League (BFLW).

Rising to the challenge of playing in her first ever interleague game, van Egmond was practically impassable in defence, almost routinely propelling the ball back the BFLW’s way with her strong rebound and run.

It was an effort BFLW coach Danyel Waters described as “strong” and “calming”.

Never in her wildest dreams did van Egmond, who only started playing football last year, think she would end such a groundbreaking day for the BFLW and its players with a best on ground medal.

“Not when I got here today and not when I was playing. It’s a real surprise to me,” she said.

“But I’m very thankful and so proud of my team.

“It was a team effort that got us there in the end.

“When we landed in the rooms before the game, we all looked at each other in the eye.

“Just that trust we had in one another served us well.”

While the BFLW’s game plan, developed through eight weeks of training sessions together, revolved around speed, pressure and territory, van Egmond admitted there were a few pre-game tweaks due to the conditions, with thick mud enveloping the centre square area at Alfredton Recreation Reserve.

“Our game plan had been to play corridor, so we soon changed that around a bit and took it out wide,” she said.

“Lots of running and ball movement.

“We have a good group of girls with a good set of legs, so we used that run to our advantage.

“This is our jam as coach Danyel said – we love the mud. We get in and we just go hard.

“Those conditions really suited us.”

Still only about midway through her second season at Redan, which accounts for just under half of her career games, van Egmond spent the summer honing her craft with Kybybolite in the Limestone Coast league, based in the lower south-east region of South Australia and south-western border region of Victoria.

It was there she claimed her first football-related medal as runner-up in her club’s best and fairest award, featuring in the best players in seven out of 10 games.

 

“It was a great competition; I loved the experience over there,” van Egmond said.

“There was no mud. Obviously it was (played) in summer time. But this definitely tops that.

“Best on ground medallist is my greatest achievement now.”

A keen netballer, basketballer and soccer player during her high school years, she had long been tempted to give football a crack but had resisted the urge until last year.

“I have always wanted to play and I finally got the time and opportunity. Redan accepted me into their club two weeks before the season started,” she said.

“The rest is history.”

It’s performances like those last weekend that suggest she is determined to make up for lost time.

Apart from her time at Redan, she has this year made a handful of appearances for Wimmera league club Natimuk.

While the win was bliss, a feature of the interleague experience for van Egmond was the camaraderie among the playing group and the new friendships formed with players from other clubs.

“It was great to see all of us rival players get together for those training sessions,” she said.

“It’s really changed my perspective on these other clubs.

“Everyone is lovely and we worked together.

“But most of all, I just love the opportunity we have been given.

“I am very proud to have been given the opportunity to play in the first senior women’s interleague game.

“Hopefully this paves the way for women in the future in Ballarat.”

A history-making occasion will not be easily forgotten by van Egmond.

She planned to take her mud-caked No. 44 jersey home for a wash before making plans to have it framed along with her medal.

Her attention now will turn to aiding Redan in its quest to rise up the BFLW senior ladder.

The Lions will head into this Sunday’s clash against Carisbrook in unfamiliar territory in fourth spot, level on seven wins with third-placed Ballarat, one win behind Bacchus Marsh and two behind top side Darley.

With four home and away games remaining before finals, van Egmond is confident the Lions will soon hit their straps and again be a force at finals time.

“We know what we’ve got and when we hit finals, we’re in with a good chance,” she said.