400 game legend

By Lachlan Ellis

A Moorabool netballer had already done it all, from coaching, coordinating, captaining, and winning a flag with her beloved Bacchus Marsh Cobras – but now she’s taken out the club’s, and the BFN League’s, games record.

Cobras Life Member Lauren Prout played her 400th game on 29 April, with the ‘family’ showing up in numbers to celebrate the occasion.

While her B Grade side went down 16 to 47 against North Ballarat, the lack of a milestone game win clearly hasn’t dampened Ms Prout’s spirits, with the much-loved clubwoman thanking the club for their continued support.

“It’s an honour to be playing at the club for as long as I have, but it’s because of the club and the people that I’ve kept playing for so long. I just love being at the club. There have been some hard times, we’re going through a bit of a rebuild now, but we’ve got a great culture at the club, and that’s why I stay there,” she told the Moorabool News.

“The club had a really nice presentation and gave me a beautiful plaque at Thursday night’s dinner, and then another presentation before the game on Saturday. It was a huge honour and quite overwhelming to see the amount of people who came to the game. Because it’s also a League record, the League came and presented me with a plaque as well.

“It was really nice the effort the club went to, they made me a big sign, and gave it a lot of airtime, I guess. It was nice to be able to speak about the club too, and how I feel about it.”

Ms Prout was perhaps destined to be a lifelong Cobra, with her connection lasting “pretty much since I was born”, she said.

Her parents were both heavily involved in the club as fellow Life Members, and she began playing netball in 1998, never missing a season since then excluding the cancelled seasons during the COVID pandemic.

Her favourite memory of her time at the Cobras, unsurprisingly, was winning the C Grade premiership in 2013.

“I’d have to say my favourite moment was winning the premiership 10 years ago, that was definitely the most memorable. Of course we play because we love the sport and the people we’re around, but we also play to win, so to win a flag was unbelievable. And getting to do that with people that I’m still mates with them now,” she said.

When asked about the possibility of reaching for 500 games, Ms Prout said she “won’t put a number” on the future of her netball career, and says she’d love to play netball with her five-year-old daughter Ruby, body permitting.