The Rochester under-12s burst through a team banner and on to the ground in Bendigo on their way to a fairytale flag.
The stunning upset grand final win by Rochester’s under-12 girls has cemented the team’s place in their town’s sporting history.
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Delivering the club’s only 2026 flag, the under-12s conquered the unbackable favourite St Francis Green, after having lost to them by a combined 126 points to 0 during the home-and-away rounds.
In the recent grand final the tiny Tigers rocked St Francis 4.2 (26) to 3.2 (20) and they were then mobbed by a massive crowd of family, friends and supporters, who joined the girls in singing the club song.
Coach Trent Riordan described the win and the community support as “sensational”.
Riordan said his junior giant killers had played a strong and steady season and had also set a league benchmark for on-field behaviour as well as success.
Frankie Hay and Ella Forde in their Victorian jumpers. They went to Canberra to play in the nationals.
And he said to complete his team’s triumph, two of its players — Frankie Hay and Ella Forde — were the only players from the Bendigo Junior Football League to be selected for the Victorian under-12 side.
“This wasn’t a Vic Country side, this was Victoria, and the girls played in the nationals in Canberra. It has been an amazing year for them and they have worked so hard for it,” Riordan said.
“Frankie, who is our vice-captain, would end up the league’s leading goalscorer with 49 — and she plays in the centre.
“She would also go on to be runner-up in the Heathcote District Netball League best-and-fairest.
“Ella was named best-on-ground for our grand final, and the day after that performance, turned out for the Rushworth under-15 netball side and won a second flag.”
But Riordan, who juggled 20 players in a competition where you can only have 16 per game, said as outstanding as those girls were, it was the depth of the team, their enthusiasm and determination to support each other to be better players which made the difference.
He said, for example, one girl kicked her first goal of the season during the finals, and another girl, who had kicked just one goal for the year, kicked two during the finals.
“We had to lift for the finals. St Francis had defeated us 82-0 the first time we met them and 44-0 the second,” Riordan said.
“But in the first final we downed them by 24 points, and we knew they would come back hard if we both reached the grand final, which is exactly what happened, but we got the job done.”
Riordan, his assistant Pup Hay and team manager Shelley Macfarlane came up with a rotation which ensured every player got an even number of games during the regular season and then carried the same strategy into the finals.
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