Mission complete for Barkmeyer, Roos

STAR goaler Ruby Barkmeyer believes a BFNL premiership with Kangaroo Flat has vindicated her decision to return to her home club in 2025.

The former Melbourne Vixen was one of the keys to the Roos’ 59-51 grand final triumph over Sandhurst, claiming the best on court medal.

It was her second grand final best on court medal win.

She won her first as a 15-year-old in the Roos’ 2016 flag win against Golden Square.

Until this year, neither she nor Kangaroo Flat had won a premiership since that day in 2016.

Barkmeyer would go on to play just two more seasons with Kangaroo Flat in 2017 and 2018, before joining Heathcote District club Elmore in 2019.

Her next five seasons were spent at the Vixens; one on the main roster in 2021 and four as a training partner, while playing for Victorian Netball League powerhouse Boroondara Express.

Her signing, along with that of her former Vixens teammate Mwai Kumwenda, who later joined West Coast Fever as a replacement player and a training partner without playing for the Roos, was announced in October last year.

The high-profile signings immediately catapulted the Roos into flag favourtism.

Those lofty early expectations were ultimately delivered on, with the Roos breaking through for their first premiership in nine years.

 

Having headed into the grand final undefeated, Barkmeyer admitted it was a relief to get the job done.

“It was a long build up and we’ve worked hard the whole year, so it was good to final get out there, play a full 60 minutes the way that we wanted too and finish the cup,” she said.

“It was exciting to do it again with Alicia (McGlashan). She’s spent some time away from the club too, so it was good to be back together and enjoying a win.

“It was pretty cool to go through undefeated, but we knew it didn’t mean much if we didn’t win the grand final.

“The game went up another level from the semi-final – Sandhurst really took it to us.

“They came at us all game and we really had to work for it the full 60 minutes.”

Barkmeyer – runner-up behind Shae Clifford in this year’s Betty Thompson Medal count -paid credit to the two other surviving members of the 2016 premiership team, present-day captain Chelsea Sartori and Milly Wicks.

“They’ve hung around for the nine years and it’s been pretty tough for them,” she said.

“There hasn’t been much success in grand finals since (three losses in 2019, ’22 and ’24), so to get the win was really special for them.

“We really wanted to get a win for them.”

Barkmeyer’s own last two trips to the grand final ended in defeat for Boroondara.

A highlight for Barkmeyer this season was her prosperous partnership in the goal circle with season 2025 recruit Teal Hocking.

Rivals on the VNL court, the two dominated when on in the line-up together, limited by Hocking’s commitments with Melbourne Mavericks’ Super Netball Reserves team

“We haven’t really trained that much together this season and she didn’t train in grand final week either. She had an injured neck,” Barkmeyer said.

 

“To come out and play like that was amazing.”

The premiership was Hocking’s first in netball.

While her return to Kangaroo Flat ended a six-year hiatus from the BFNL, Barkmeyer said some things had remained the same, including the club’s loyal band of supporters.

“The support was great – our crowd was really the eighth player and helped us get across the line,” she said.

Barkmeyer said a premiership in her first year back had brought a sense of ‘mission accomplished’.

“The club has had a lot of success over the years in finals, but they haven’t quite had it in grand finals,” she said.

“When I first spoke to Jayden (coach Jayden Cowling) that was our goal, to go all the way with this team.

“We knew we could do it.

“Getting through undefeated wasn’t something we thought about too much going into the grand final, as we know, anything can happen in finals.

“We were super-happy to play the way we did and to finish things off the way we did.”

The 24-year-old viewed her best on court medal win as some icing on the premiership cake.

“It really could have gone to anyone on the team – everyone did their job,” she said.

“And I certainly couldn’t have done mine without Teal and Ash (Ryan) and Chels (Sartori) feeding me the ball.

“Ash in particular played a great game.”