OVENS and Murray grand final weekend is here and Wangaratta Rovers will feature heavily on the last day of the season.
Rovers have three teams vying for premiership glory with their senior and thirds football sides reaching the grand final, while their under 17s netball will also be in action.
Wangaratta Rovers president Wally Pasquali can't wait for Sunday.
“It’s been a real steady improvement for us over the past few years and it’s taken a lot of people involved to get the club to where it is today,” Pasquali said.
“To have a seniors, thirds and under 17s netball in grand finals is just so exciting.
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“Our thirds have been successful over the past few seasons, they run a great program with the thirds who have played in a few grand finals over the past few years and our under 17 netball has been pretty successful as well since the grade came in.
“But for our senior football it’s been 30 years since we’ve won a grand final and 22 years since we’ve played in one so the excitement is inconceivable.”
Rovers’ senior football has been on a steady incline since Daryn Cresswell came to the club in 2019.
Cresswell took the Hawks from a winless season in 2018 to nine victories in 2019, eight in 2021 and 13 in 2022.
“Since ‘Crezza’ (Cresswell) came in our senior football has been on the steady improve and slowly our players gained belief,” Pasquali said.
“Now ‘Muz’ (Sam Murray) has taken over and put together a group of quality players.
“The group the boys have now may never all play together again so hopefully they give an account of themselves and have a real crack at taking the ultimate prize.
“They’re all an awesome bunch of blokes.”
With Rovers youth shining in both the football and netball codes, the club will no doubt feel its future is in good hands.
“We’ve got some talented players in our junior grades but the hard thing can be keeping them around and getting them into our senior grades, particularly in netball,” Pasquali said.
“We want to get our A grade netball to where our senior football is and we have a bit of a plan to help us do that.
“We’ve got some talented junior netballers, a couple who have been selected in state sides so hopefully we can keep those juniors around.”
Pasquali said the success would would not have been possible without the club’s volunteers.
“We’ve got an amazing volunteer base at Rovers; from parents and families to supporters, we have amazing volunteers,” he said.
“They’ve come out in spades this year, we hosted a final this year and it was incredible to see everyone helping out.
“Many hands make light work and that’s definitely the case at Rovers.”
