Brave in grand final defeat

all night and her height made life difficult for Allan and rising star Allie Smith.

But after all three Geelong teams qualified for finals and the club’s two senior teams reached grand finals, Murphy said he was confident the Cougars would be back in 2019.

“We had three teams in finals last year and three again this year, so that is an awesome achievement — the pinnacle obviously is (premierships) but it is two seconds, so that is pret- ty good,” Murphy said.

“But we have established a really strong, core group and there is a lot of competition from the other teams building up getting ready to go as well.

“I think a lot of our championship team is keen to play and stay together and keep building, so that is a good indicator of the future and how the club is going and how we want to play, so that is really good.”

There was a strong Geelong flavour throughout the line- ups for both sides, with GFL stars Molly Jovic, Maggie Lind, Jacqui Newton and Cook among them.

Murphy admitted he had not seen Cook play as well as she has in the past four weeks, with her ability to grab high balls and accuracy under the ring potent.

The Cougars coach said the overriding feeling after the club’s first championship division grand final was pride.

“It is mixed emotions, we