Dookie United unleash commanding second half over Nagambie to book Grand Final berth

Nagambie 38

In a heart-stopping clash at Dookie Recreation Reserve on Saturday, home town heroes Dookie United combined for a strong second half to end Nagambie’s season in a preliminary final.

The 42-38 result sets up a fascinating rematch, with Dookie set to take on unbeaten minor premier Stanhope in Saturday’s Kyabram District League grand final.

In a surprise from Dookie’s usual game - where it starts strongly - Nagambie came out firing in the opening quarter, shooting 13-5 to put the Thunder on the back foot early.

Lakers co-coach Bianca Willis got her eye in and never wavered, while her fellow coach Sarah Sanderson, along with Madeline Moore in defence, picked off numerous intercepts.

But with the Thunder struggling in attack, coach Tanya Caruana then made a change that would prove pivotal in the context of the game, moving Sophie Harmer from centre into goal shooter.

The experienced player remained calm and collected to work the Thunder back into the contest, shooting eight of Dookie’s 10 second term goals to pull the margin back within five at half-time.

The Thunder further outscored the Lakers in the third term to be three down ahead of a gripping final showdown, which started off almost goal-for-goal.

With Dookie edging ahead, Nagambie was desperate to level it with only a few minutes remaining, but a missed shot on goal from Sharni Lloyd resulted in a turnover and Dookie goal, who then took the next centre pass and converted to go two up.

Alas, this was enough to turn the momentum away from the Lakers, with Dookie remaining steadfast to close out the win.

In the words of Caruana, the result was a “bloody ripper”.

“I knew today we really had to get our attack end firing. They went missing when we played Stanhope (last week),” Caruana said.

“We just had to keep the work rate up and not give up fighting because we knew we could punch out the four quarters and hopefully Nagambie would taper off.

“It could have been anybody’s, but Georgie (Michel’s) intercepts in those last few minutes really lifted the team.

“We started to smell like we had a win in that last quarter and we just had to really fight.”

It was strong strategy from the Dookie coach, as well as execution on the part of her players that gave Dookie the edge against a Nagambie line-up hungry for another shot at the title.

“I feel like the thing with Nagambie is once they work us out, they’ll wear us down,” Caruana said.

“I needed to keep on the front foot and make some changes to keep them on the back foot.

“The changes were purposeful in that I want to keep injecting a fresh and new strategy each time.”

The biggest was the Harmer move, but Caruana said she did not second guess the change for a second.  

“Sophie is a really reliable goaller,” Caruana said.

“I noticed Maddi (Owen) was under a bit of pressure in GS, so putting Sophie in changed the dynamics and gave us that lift we needed.”

Another to shine was Belinda "Patto" Rankin, who was awarded best-on-court for her work in centre and wing attack.

“Patto through the middle was just on fire,” Caruana said.

“She was unstoppable and was pivotal to us getting so much of the ball down to the attackers."

For Nagambie, Sanderson said it was a combination of silly errors and Dookie’s strong showing that cost her side.

“It was little things,” she said.

“We turned it over at the wrong times. And Dookie outscored us three of the four quarters, so credit to Dookie - at half-time their goallers got their eye in.”

Dookie has a challenge on its hands to reverse its 29-66 defeat against Stanhope in the second semi-final a fortnight ago. 

Caruana conceded she would need to think outside the box ahead of the decider if the Thunder were a chance of upsetting the Lions.

 “I really will be looking at the best line-up we have,” Caruana said.

“We need to take risks. If we play safe and play our standard game, I don’t know if it will work for us.

“We’ve got to pull every single trick out we know and have a good crack at it.”