Paige Baksh’s goals have helped to ignite Shepparton United's title charge.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Shepparton United’s Paige Baksh has provided the ammunition to fire her side to the top of the Goulburn Murray Women and Girls League - in what has been an uncompromising title defence.
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The free-scoring forward has hit the scoreboard on 24 occasions already in the opening ten rounds of fixtures to top the goal-kicking charts during what has been a stellar campaign so far during 2026.
The Demons currently boast a 100 per cent record in the league, with Cobram the latest team to fall to defeat against the all-conquering pacesetters as Baksh tallied up three majors on the night.
Incredibly, Baksh has now kicked 300 goals during what has been a remarkable career, with her third century having been secured during the round nine clash as she grabbed three goals against Rumbalara at Deakin Reserve on June 21.
The club stalwart fired 24 strikes last year en route to glory in the grand final against Echuca, where she kicked two goals to earn her side the Goulburn Murray Women and Girls flag for 2025.
Following on from last year’s heroics, the prolific forward has carried her clinical form into the new term, with her efforts seemingly inspiring her teammates too in the process.
In fact, United colleague Payten Johnston has notched up 16 strikes this season, while Emily Zampaglione has got in on the act with eight of her own, as Tailah Rennie has kicked seven goals across the campaign.
Shepp United head coach Grant Searle having now paid tribute to the bona fide club legend.
Shepparton United’s Paige Baksh has led the way for the premiership holders again.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
“She’s a champion and last week she kicked her 300th career goal,” he said.
“She’s another one that we don’t use as a focal point forward and, in fact, a lot of her goals come from being on ball.
“We do have a number of identified goal-kickers, which is what we wanted as we didn’t want to rely on one particular person and that is working quite well.
“I’ve got a number of girls in the side who can run and can kick quite a distance and so it’s freed up focal points - we have a number of goal-kickers which is great.”
As for what the key to the long unbeaten run has been for the team, coach Searle expressed his belief that continuity and a focus on crafting the perfect game-plan for this set of players has been central to the side’s success.
“We’ve kept the same game-plan (as last year) and adopted it to suit the girls that we have got,” he said.
“We managed to keep a core group of girls from last year’s grand final and then we picked up a number of new players - so we’ve had to adapt our game plan to suit and it seems to be working quite well.”
The fixtures keep coming thick and fast for the Demons, with four more games in the diary for the remainder of the league season against Rumbalara, Nathalia, Moama and Tatura.
On paper, the biggest test in what remains of these fixtures will be against second-placed Magpies, who currently sit just four points adrift of United as the business end of the term approaches.
Until then, the focus in the Shepp United camp will be on maintaining its perfect record during 2026, starting with the short away trip to face Rumbalara on July 12 from 2pm.
