“A humbling feeling”: First Winchelsea winner excited for Blues future

IT TOOK until the second-to-last round of voting for Gemma Stavenhuiter to put last night’s (Wednesday, August 31) Margaret Webb Medal count beyond doubt.

However, Winchelsea’s first league best-and-fairest winner is keeping her focus on the task at hand with a Preliminary Final against Werribee Centrals less than 48 hours away.

“It’s a really humbling feeling and I’m really loving this moment,” Stavenhuiter said after winning the medal.

“Individual accolades are nice, but we’ve still got a couple weeks left of finals, hopefully, so fingers crossed the amount of hard work we’ve put into this season can pay off in a couple of Saturdays’ time.

“I think it’s the start of a really good Winchelsea run, if I’m honest.”

Stavenhuiter tallied a stellar 27 votes on the night, edging out Thomson’s Emma Witham by two votes (25 votes) and Amanda O’Malley (23 votes) of Werribee Centrals.

The Blues keeper polled in 11 rounds on her way to the medal win, during a season where Winchelsea accrued the third-fewest goals against over the 2022 season (586).

“Defensively, we have had a great year,” Stavenhuiter said.

“We realised as a team that we need to put in defensive work all over the court, it’s not just Connie [Royal] and me doing the work, it’s everybody putting the pressure on as the ball heads down the court.

“This season the work of others has made our jobs a lot easier, and it makes us look a lot better.”

Stavenhuiter, previously with the Portarlington Demons, shifted her netball skills to the Surf Coast after a “rough” couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, a move she was glad she made.

“Teammate and coach Casey Carroll messaged me to come down to a session at the start of the year to see how I’d like it, and my first session was so great.

“Everyone was there for the same reasons, the same drive, we just connected,” Stavenhuiter said.

“I’ve never actually been at a club like Winchelsea with so much support – week in, week out whether it’s home or away, there are always Winchelsea locals, family and friends, that are there to support us.

“It makes such a difference, particularly in finals.”

Blues defender Connie Royal finished the count in ninth with 16 votes next to her name, while Winchelsea’s Melody Philpott, Casey Carroll, Meg Royal and Stavenhuiter received Team of the Year selections.

Top 10 vote-getters in the Margaret Webb Medal count:

1 Gemma Stavenuiter (Winchelsea) – 27 votes
2 Emma Witham (Thomson) – 25 votes
3 Amanda O’Malley (Werribee Centrals) – 23 votes
3 Kelsey Whyte (Inverleigh) – 23 votes
5 Angelique Ross (Belmont) – 19 votes
5 Rebecca Lebish (Thomson) – 19 votes
7 Ashleigh Cushion (East Geelong) – 18 votes
8 Alanna Cottrill (East Geelong) – 17 votes
9 Connie Royal (Winchelsea) – 16 votes
10 Ally Bamford (Corio) – 15 votes

The GDNL Team of the Year, led by co-coaches Casey Carroll (Winchelsea) and Justine Radford (East Geelong), and assistant coach David Boyce (East Geelong):

• Goalers: Melody Philpott (GS – Winchelsea) and Emma Witham (GA – Thomson)
• Mid Court: Casey Carroll (WA – Winchelsea), Meg Royal (C – Winchelsea) and Claudia Cook (WD – East Geelong)
• Defenders: Ashleigh Cushion (GD – East Geelong) and Gemma Stavenuiter (GK – Winchelsea)
• Reserves: Cassidy Nelson (North Geelong), Shannyn Leach (Thomson) and Amanda O’Malley (Werribee Centrals)