Ash Mangan claimed her sixth A-grade premiership in Goulburn Valley League when Echuca triumphed over Euroa, but her first for the Murray Bombers was by far the sweetest.
“(It’s) probably even better than any of the others,” she said.
“When you’re getting to the end of your career you just cherish every last game that you’ve got. When you’re playing with such an awesome bunch of girls, some of them are my best friends who I’ve played in a number of those flags with, every one just keeps getting better.
“I guess the older I’m getting, I’m soaking more of it up and not taking any of it for granted, because it’s a very lucky thing that we get to do.”
Breathing a sigh of relief at the final whistle, the three-time Wellman medallist could still hardly believe the magnitude of what she had achieved.
“If someone had said at the start of the year I’d be playing in a grand final, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said.
“I’ve had three little boys since the last one, I didn’t know if I’d get back to netball at all, I’ve got bad knees and did not think we would be standing here with this medal around my neck, so very, very lucky.”
Having started the season slowly, Mangan said the older core and younger group coming through had meshed well to evolve into the all-conquering side that took to the court in the grand final.
“We started as probably two different sections of girls, young girls who I didn’t really know at the start of the season, and the older heads,” she said.
“We’ve just come together really nicely, we’ve gelled and Belinda (Lees) has sort of just told us that every game is a blessing, that we need to stay together, that we need to remain connected no matter what’s happening out there.
“I think tactics and everything else, game systems, are all helpful, but if you’re together and doing it for each other, nothing else matters.”