Two years after the Covid virus began impacting on community sport we finally looked forward to a full season.
Our netball program went through immense changes after the truncated 2021 season, in which we had again emerged undefeated at the A Grade level.
Head Coach Tim Smith stepped aside for Brie DeJong, a highly experienced coach who had charge of one of the Victorian men’s teams.
Chelsea Maher also joined us from Beaconsfield and took the reins of C Grade and our U/17s. Kyle Claringbold came on board to look after D Grade.
Fortunately while he stepped aside as Head Coach Tim stayed with us in a new role, he joined our Sports Management Group as the Netball Co-ordinator. This was to prove a crucial move as he helped bring new coaching staff and players on board.
The core group of players who had helped OFC become the most successful A Grade team in League history- Krista Tomlinson (Carpenter), Maddy Taylor ( Guz), Georgia Martin and Alice Paget- agreed to play on.
Heading into the season there was one key question this group had to answer, could they fight off more eager and highly motivated challengers to retain the crown they had held since 2016.
Results seemed to suggest our era could be coming to an end.
After winning the first three games with pedestrian scorelines we were then ambushed by Monbulk on a wet day at Monbulk. While we were missing key players we were still fortunate to eke out a 41 all draw.
Two weeks later Narre Warren beat us at home and then in Round 9 Wandin thrashed us by 11 goals in our worst loss since 2017 (Belgrave) .
The following month Pakenham joined the party with it’s first victory over OFC and then, ominously in Round 16 as the season drew to a close, Narre overan us by 12 goals. Crucially Narre was able to restrict us to just 31 goals.
So we finished the Home and Away season with four losses and a draw, our worst result since 2014 which led to the inevitable conclusion that “time and age” had finally caught up with this benchmark group of netballers.
Early results in the finals did nothing to allay this fear. Narre beat us by a comfortable five goals and then we struggled to a one goal win over long time rival Wandin.
But nothing we had seen during the season prepared us for what was to follow in the Grand Final against Narre- a team which had beaten OFC three times.
Suffice to say OFC’s extraordinary group of women warriors triumphed against the odds in the most amazing game in League history. Note the extra two “quarters” in this game as the teams were locked together in a desperate battle with just one goal seperating them for most the match.
It was indeed a win for the ages, a win against enormous odds.
Ladder
| Narre Warren | 68 |
| OFC | 54 |
| ROC | 50 |
| Monbulk | 46 |
| Wandin | 44 |
| Woori Yallock | 24 |
| Pakenham | 24 |
| Mt Evelyn | 24 |
| Beaconsfield | 14 |
| Upwey | 12 |
Second Semi Final- at Woori Yallock Sept 4
| OFC | 9 | 23 | 30 | 45 |
| Narre Warren | 14 | 25 | 36 | 50 |
Best Players – Taylah Werner, Krista Tomlinson, Brodie Smith
Goal Scorers- Taylah Werner 23,Hayley Howard 22
Preliminary Final- at Healesville Sept 11
| OFC | 8 | 19 | 28 | 35 |
| Wandin | 7 | 16 | 27 | 34 |
Best Players- Brodie Smith, Hayley Howard, Alice Paget
Goal Scorers- Hayley Howard 24, Taylah Werner 9, Jackie Cutting 2
Grand Final- at Gembrook Sept 18
| OFC | 11 | 22 | 32 | 36 | 39 | 44 |
| Narre Warren | 8 | 20 | 29 | 36 | 40 | 43 |
Best Players- Brodie Smith, Krista Tomlinson, Taylah Werner, Maddy Taylor, Bronwyn Simpson, Hayley Howard, Alice Paget
Goal Scorers- Hayler Howard 25, Taylah Werner 19
Our team- Krista Tomlinson capt, Maddy Taylor, Brodie Smith, Taylah Werner, Bronwyn Simpson, Alice Paget, Hayley Howard, Georgia Martin, Jackie Cutting, Chloe Biggs, Holly Taubert.
Anita Woods Medal ( Best Player) Krista Tomlinson.
Player of the Finals Series
| Player | Votes |
| Brodie Smith | 7 |
| Krista Tomlinson | 4 |
| Taylah Werner | 4 |
| Hayley Howard | 2 |
| Alice Paget | 1 |