RECORD FEATURE: NORTH WAGGA SAINTS

However you look at it, Pink Day is an extraordinary success at North Wagga. Driven to action five years ago after the club was rocked by the loss of Jenny Cross, they wanted to do their bit to fight breast cancer. In 2011, Mick Barnes said he hoped to raise $5000 – and awareness – in that first year. Instead, it was three times that amount, and within four years the Saints had cracked $50,000 in fundraising.

Kirk Hamblin is in his first year as coach of the football side but sums up the importance of an event heading into its sixth year.

“Ladies Day is the biggest day of our year,” Hamblin said.
“Mick Barnes has been running it ever since it started. It’s a huge day. They’ve raised, I think, over 70-grand for breast cancer. It’s just huge for the club and huge for the community.”

The fundraising and support for the Cancer Council is the most important aspect of the day and highlights the club’s interest in doing something  for the wider community, beyond the confines of the club.

Pink Day, or Ladies Day, is also important internally – to recognise the contribution of women at the club.

And this year, it deserves to be bigger than ever, given the Saints’ netballers are the Farrer League’s reigning champions after breaking through for a maiden A-grade premiership last year.

“It was probably one of the best feelings that I’ve ever gone through – to coach and then to win – yeah, it was great,” premiership-winning co-coach, Brit Fitzsimmons, said.
“I would go back tomorrow if I could.”

Three seasons ago the Saints didn’t win a game. The following year, Fitzsimmons took them to within two goals of a fairytale and with Nicky O’Leary providing the off-court advice as co-coach last season, North Wagga turned the tables on their arch-rivals.

“I couldn’t have done it without her,” Fitzsimmons said. “I reached out to Nicko and she came along and helped me. I never would’ve got to help coach a premiership team had it not been for her.”

O’Leary and Fitzsimmons have both moved on from the coaching this season but will never forget the grand final victory.

“It was a great day,” O’Leary said. “My two daughters were there and it was nice to be able to share a premiership with them.

“I was only fairly new to the club but… to be a part of helping strengthen that team, it was really good. It was a bit of a feather in your cap for the girls to go from not winning a game to winning a premiership for a club that’s never won a premiership before so, definitely, it was an awesome thing.”

If 2014 was nearly the fairytale, 2015 was all about drive.

Tess Godbee, who has taken on the coaching job, picked up on the motivation in her new teammates when she arrived at the club last year.
“I think the girls were a bit heartbroken the year before so when we joined the club they were pretty determined to win the flag,” Godbee said.
“I’ve only played finals a couple of times with Ganmain and I’ve never been in a grand final so it was pretty surreal to go into a club and win a flag the first year I was there. It was really good and the girls are quite keen again to go back to back.”

None of that is to suggest it was easy. North Wagga had got out to a double-figure lead but that was cut back dramatically in the third term and the possibility of CSU – the Farrer League’s dominant force in recent seasons – storming home to thwart North Wagga’s bid for a first flag became very real.

“They’re intimidating,” Fitzsimmons said. “You’re just thinking constantly in the back of your head, ‘When are they going to come back; when are they going to do something; when’s it all going to change?’ Because that’s what you expect of CSU.”

The message from the co-coaches was to stay calm and don’t let the occasion – or the opposition get to you. With shooter Jordan Barrett heavily targetted, Denise Downes delivered a best-on-court performance while Sarah O’Leary marshalled the defence, as the Saints held on for a memorable victory.

“It was real good, particularly when you look at where we’ve been in the netball in the last five years, six years,” North Wagga president, Greg Fox, said.

“When they came along, we hadn’t won a game in two years so to make a grand final in that first year and lose by a couple and then play them again this last year and then win by a couple was good. It was real good.”
The defending champs are still unbeaten a third of the way into this season.

So, while the footballers look to get their campaign back on track against Temora, the North Wagga women deserve their time in the sun.
The netball schedule has been pushed forward an hour to ensure the girls have the afternoon to kick back and be waited on during the senior footy.
If it wasn’t for the recent wet weather, the club would have been playing its four netball games across two courts at McPherson Oval, as it looks to improve club facilities.

“With the growing of the netball and how big it’s getting, we’re in the process of getting a second court,” Fox said.

“That was part of the funding from the NAB challenge match – any money we got went towards the netball court. It gets sealed on the 4th of June.”
Football coach Kirk Hamblin puts into perspective why the contribution of the netball – which included three out of the four teams playing finals – matters to the club as a whole.

“It was a massive achievement,” Hamblin said of the A-Grade success.
“It’s just great to see North Wagga going so well (well, last year anyway, probably not so much first grade this year!). Just to prove to everyone that we’re not easybeats anymore – we’re a powerhouse of the competition and we think we can be for a few years.”

Now, it’s just a matter of turning around the football fortunes after a faltering start to the year.

“No way known will we give up,” Hamblin said.
“We know if we play our best football we can match it with anyone so we’re still positive… one or two more wins on the board and we’ll get a bit of confidence in ourselves.”

For inspiration, they can always look to the netball courts.