Waubra has three reasons to celebrate during its B-grade clash against Gordon on Saturday in the Central Highlands Netball League.
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Sophie Cullinan and Toni Briody will be playing their 150th games for the Kangaroos, while Erin Loader has reached 250 games in what will be the third time in history that a Waubra player has achieved this milestone.
While each journey has been different, the three players all started netball for Waubra in the under-13 team, have remained one-club players and have won premierships.
Briody, a 35-year-old wing defender, started with the club in 1994 before a 10-year absence when she left netball to pursue university studies and then lived and worked in Shepparton.
It was an easy decision to rejoin the team in 2012 when she returned to Waubra.
“It was just such a lovely club to come back to – it felt like I hadn’t left because the people and players are so welcoming,” Briody said.
She said the grand final success in 2014 with the C-grade team was all the more sweet after playing in a losing grand final two years earlier.
“The C-grade girls, they had played together and been in a heap of grand finals in a row and lost them, so it was really exciting for them and for me to be part of that team to get the win,” she said. “Then we got the next one.”
As a senior player, Briody said she had learnt how to be more relaxed, especially in pressured situations, during her years in the game.
“We are a very new team this year and every week we’ve improved a lot so feeding into our goal ring (is where) we want to see some improvement,” she said.
Cullinan was excited by the prospect of running through the banner with two of her teammates on home court and was planning on celebrating with family and friends after the game.
The goaler has been playing for the Kangaroos the past nine years. Her first stint in the A-grade side last year as a 21 year old has been one of the highlights along with two premierships.
“We need to work as a team unit and put in what we’ve been working on at training, which is working as a team and not trying to overcomplicate games,” she said. “I’ve had family connections with my cousins, my sisters and dad playing out there, so I love the club feel and the family feel of the Waubra community.”
Meanwhile, Loader, who plays centre and has taken to the court every year since she began in the under-13 team, said she was hoping her 250th milestone will be capped off with a victory.
“It’s really good to be able to celebrate these milestones with the other girls in the team because they’ve been around the club for a while,” she said. “Being a local out there, it really is a good community spirit at the club and everyone gets around each other.”