‘It’s home to me’: proud Roo Benbow brings up 300 games

ONE word sums up what the Kangaroo Flat Football Netball Club means to the Roos’ newest 300-game netballer Laura Benbow: family.

The 34-year-old has played all but one season of her career at Dower Park and can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

It’s where her dad Paul Brooks was a long-time former club president, where her brother Tim played nearly 200 games, was a club captain and is still involved as an assistant to senior football coach Tyrone Downie, and where husband Ash Benbow played plenty of his football.

And it’s where the mother of two hopes children Olivia, 10, and Cooper, nearly 6, will play their respective netball and football.

Olivia is already playing on Saturday mornings with Maiden Gully Primary School.

Benbow notched up her 300th BFNL game in the Roos’ convincing 40-25 B-reserve win over Eaglehawk at Dower Park last Saturday.

It was a big day for the Roos, who celebrated 600 games worth of milestones, with Bronte Deary hitting the 200-game mark in the A-reserve game and Lily Dickson clocking up 100 in B-grade.

Mainly a B and B-reserve grade player throughout her time at Kangaroo Flat – or as Benbow puts it: “I may have sat on the A-reserve bench a couple of times” – it’s the love of the game and club that keep her coming back.

“I have a real passion for netball and I have made some beautiful friends that are like family to me through Kangaroo Flat,” she said.

“It’s home to me. I just love it and I’m just happy to be out there playing each week.”

 

A palliative care nurse at Bendigo Health by day, Benbow’s lone season away from Kangaroo Flat was spent at Mitiamo in the Loddon Valley league during the COVID-shortened 2021 season.

Again, it was family that took her out there, with both hubby and brother playing with the Superoos.

Like many who have gone on to forge long careers in green and white on the netball court, Benbow’s introduction came under the astute guidance of league and club great and BFNL Hall of Famer, the late Carol Bingham.

An eternally-grateful Benbow, who played her first game in 2006, believes there was no one better from whom to learn the ropes.

“I started under Carol Bingham, so I do remember those early years very fondly,” she said.

“Great friends, great times and I obviously had my brother at the club as well.

“I remember it being a lot of fun, with a fair bit of success along the way, which was really nice.”

Pinpointing a career highlight, Benbow has no hesitation in naming the Roos’ B-reserve premiership in 2017.

“I’ve played in multiple grand finals but only won one. It’s by far my greatest achievement,” she said.

“That and getting my life membership last year. That was really special.

“I had my first baby in 2016, but came back and won my first flag the following year.

“To finally win one after losing so many grand finals was amazing.”

A long-overdue flag win came in her sixth grand final appearance in green and white.

Benbow, who alternates between goal keeper and goal shooter, but prefers the role in defence, is hoping a second might be on the cards this season, with her team sitting atop the B-reserve ladder at 11-1, a win and a half clear of Gisborne and two wins ahead of South Bendigo.

“I’m not getting too confident, but I’m aiming to get one this year for sure,” she said.

 

“Then I can retire,” she added with a laugh and a subtle hint that would not be the case.

“We are sitting first and only had our first loss to Gisborne a couple of weeks ago by two.

“We’ve got some really young girls in our team and I absolutely love playing alongside them. They keep us youthful.

“It’s a beautiful team; I feel lucky to be in it.

“I need to challenge Karly Bingham.

“It’s been awesome playing with her this year and my best friend Lucy Lang has come back this year after her third baby and I have Nina Cass as my coach, so I’m having a fabulous year.

“But while I can, people keep telling me I should (play on), so I’ll go on until I can’t.”

The league’s Betty Thompson Medal winner in 2012, Karly Bingham passed 300 games during the 2024 season and is still going strong.

Benbow rated the accomplished midcourter high among the best netballers to have played for Kangaroo Flat during her time, alongside current A-grade goalers Ruby Barkmeyer and Teal Hocking, two-time Betty Thompson medal winner Chelsea Sartori and seven-time A-grade premiership player Alicia McGlashan.

While grand final success has frustratingly evaded Benbow, who has also coached the B and B-reserve teams in the past years, for much of her career she finds comfort in that enjoyed by the club as a whole.

“We have just made some really good decisions over the years as a netball club,” she said.

“It’s been amazing watching the success we’ve had on the netball court and off the court.

“Jayden (Roos head coach Jayden Cowling) has done an amazing job building a great culture at Kangaroo Flat.

“While everyone sees a lot of success on the court, it’s just as successful off the court.

“It’s a culture that has taken us far and a culture to be proud of.”