By Tanya Steele
Many milestones were hit in the sporting arena this year in the Dandenongs, from smashing records, international travels to Olympic representation.
Local Upwey baseballers Ryder Wilson and Jack Ratcliffe represented Australia in the Under 18 National Junior Squad in March.
The duo toured the United States in September and October for Ratcliffe this was his second opportunity to compete in the World Cup whilst Wilson will fly the flag for the first time.
Ratcliffe said that the feeling of playing for your country is a really unique and special feeling.
“You will forever be able to say you played for Australia, nobody can take that away from you. It’s an amazing honour I do with great pride,” he said.
Wilson said that the thought of pulling on that green and gold jersey that says Australia on the front is absolutely electric.
“Easily one of the best feelings if my career so far,” he said.
To netball and the Belgrave FNC celebrated a massive milestone with netball sensation Donna Gray – describing her as a ‘household name’ since 2011.
Donna was the first woman to play 300 games for the league, making her the first woman eligible for a League Life Membership, which is an amazing accomplishment.
The longtime Belgrave player celebrated a weekend in May and also had her good friend Alex Gawley celebrate her 200th game alongside her.
Turning to the Olympics, Emerald star Amy Lawton wore the Green and Gold for the Hockeyroos Team at the 2024 Paris games.
Lawton is not new to the world of finest athletes, she’s had several successful opportunities in her young career, including Oceania Cup 2019, FIH Pro League 2019, 2020 to 2021, 2022 to 2023, Tokyo Olympics 2020 (2021), World Cup in 2022 and Commonwealth Games in 2022.
She was the fourth youngest Hockeyroo to compete at an Olympic Games.
Although it was Lawton’s second Olympics, the excitement and the nervousness remained the same.
“Waiting for such an awesome moment, opening that email I was just so nervous because I experienced it before, I was obviously very excited, and it was a huge relief at the same time because I’ve had this build up for so long,” Lawton said.
“Straight away, I called mum and dad, and I celebrated with them later,” she said.
Old-timer cycling champion Simon Clarke, who currently rides for Israel-Premier went in for his second olympics.
Mr Clarke was a resident of Upwey and Selby before he moved to Europe when he was merely 16 while his mother now resides in Kallista.
He attended Selby Primary School and got into cycling through the Great Victorian Bike Ride, which was entered through the school.
“I enjoyed it a lot, and ended up joining a club, and passing through cycling to the top,” he said.
Macclesfield shooting star Amanda Jane (AJ) Jennings went to Paris to mark her debut as a paralympic archer.
The Green and Gold athlete left Australia on Monday 19 August – and Ms Jennings said the atmosphere at the venues was pumping in the ‘City of Love,’ with many incredible athletes celebrating their unique stories at the Games.
“When I finally got that tick in the nod saying, you’re going to Paris – it was just a relief and excitement,” she said.
In an inaugural first for both Victoria and Australia, a talented collection of young First Nations netballers competed in a three-day tournament in September, with representatives from the outer east selected.
Wurundjeri woman and Seville netballer Emlyn Turriff and Mara woman and former Olinda-Ferny Creek player Olivia Spence.
Moving to the Seville Football and Netball Club last year, Emlyn said aside from the friendships and the community that comes with netball, the competitive nature of the sport has always inspired her.
“I really enjoy having a goal to work towards. I’m a very achievement based person, so I really like to work towards something,” she said.
Having followed a similar path, Olivia, 19, said she initially started as a goal defender but has since made the transition to wing defence and centre because of her height.
Olivia said the competitive aspect of the game and also being the one to turn over play as a defender were two things she loves about the sport.
“I like reading the play and picking the right moments when to go for those intercepts and try and not get in the bad books with the umpires,” she said.
To Yarra Ranges Athletics, the final round of XCR24 was held on Saturday morning 16 September at the Tan Track in Melbourne. The cold, wet conditions did not dampen the excitement and enthusiasm of our Yarra Ranges Athletics athletes.
For the open women’s division, it was a close race and the Bendigo team claimed the win with YRA’s courageous team finishing second.
The men eventually finished a very close third, only 17 seconds adrift of Frankston.
The men’s division 6 team again showed the depth within the club – managing a second-place finish for the four-lap relay, the team finished the season with three division wins.
The women’s Under 20 team finished the season in second place behind a strong Essendon team.
The women’s Under 20 team finished the season in second place behind a strong Essendon team.
Sherbrooke Little Athletics was treated to a special visit by Sally Pearson OAM in November.
As part of a larger Coles program, little local athletes were treated to a visit by the famous hurdler on what became a very special Saturday morning.
Sally Pearson OAM, whose legacy was recently recognised with induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame was the special guest for the hills and had a great time racing around with the kids.
In netball this year Seville has a very strong netball program and made the Grand Finals in each of the Senior grades. The A Grade clash was an instant classic as the match went into overtime to decide a victor.
Warburton-Millgrove prevailed by a solitary goal to snatch the premiership. Seville did however collect the other three flags.
Under 15s did Monbulk proud this year – with the young Hawks shining in a grand final showdown.
The Hawks threw around their team and fought hard to get back into the game. Monbulk had by far the best of the play in the second half, as light drizzle fell, and reduced the margin to 14 goals when the game concluded. This team had gained enormous respect in their first season.
Outer East football saw the Division 1 Grand Final between Healesville and Warburton-Millgrove – with Healesville going into the match as favourites, having defeated the Burras three times previously this season.
For the final quarter the wind died down and the sun came out and with this Healesville put on a clinic, kicking 5.4 to 0.3, and running out convincing winners by 52 points.
In the reserves, Healesville wasn’t to have it all their own way for the day as their Reserves went down to a gutsy Belgrave contingent.
The Magpies recovered to get to the big one and handled the greasy conditions better to win the Reserves premiership by 17 points.
The Under 18s Grand Final pitted the top two sides all year against each other. Most of the play was at the end favoured by the wind and it would be the Rovers who would triumph by 13 points.
Turning to the grand final for the outer east premier division, Narre Warren will join the Southern League next year but had a few matters to sort out first.
Narre Warren finished the game strongly to eventually run out 40 point winners and exact revenge for their loss in 2023.
The Reserves played in a strong cross wind which resulted holding on to just two goals as they missed numerous opportunities to eventually go down by 7 points.
Back to netball and the two best teams in A Grade, Mt. Evelyn and Narre Warren, met in the Grand Final in what turned out to be an epic struggle.
There were never more than a few goals separating the Rovers and Magpies and it was Narre Warren that prevailed by a solitary goal to give them the football-netball double for 2024.
The outer east turned all eyes to the draft in late November and Christian Moraes was the 11th pick of the night (38 overall) for the Telstra AFL National draft and he is now on his way to becoming a Port Adelaide player.
Surrounded by family and friends the 18-year-old running machine has seen his dreams come true.
“I’m pretty ecstatic, it’s unreal,” Mr Moraes said to media at his home on the week of the draft.
Finally, December saw local cricketers step it up a notch, with two Ferntree Gully cricket players elected to be a part of the Australian Country Cricket Championships.
Coming in with the honour of being named Captain, Jake Toohey was selected for the championships again alongside Josh Henry.
Ferntree Gully Cricket Club took to social media to congratulate their players on 30 November.Ferntree Gully Cricket Club took to social media to congratulate their players on 30 November.
“A massive congratulations to Jake Toohey on again being selected to represent Victoria in the Australian Country Cricket Championships, this time with the added honour of being named Captain,” the post read.
“And another massive congratulations to Josh Henry who has also been selected to represent Victoria alongside Jake.”
“It is an amazing achievement to have two Ferntree Gully cricketers playing for Victoria at the same time. Go well guys!”
All these achievements and more continue among our very sporty hill crew who continue to get amongst it, here’s to more fun for 2025.
A huge thank you to our community who submit sport report every Sunday night or very early Monday morning – the team at Star Mail couldn’t do it without you.
