CHEERS AFTER TEARS
EMOTIONAL FINISH HONOURS LATE MATE
“IT’S the sort of script you couldn’t write even if you tried.”
Those are the words of Coolangatta QAFLW coach Nicole Graves after her side came from behind in the dying seconds of their Round 1 clash against Bond University for a five-point win and perfect farewell to Bluebirds stalwart Fiona Stevenson, who passed away from cancer in late 2019.
Down by one point with 40 seconds to go, it was the late Stevenson’s best mate Lauren James who kicked out of a pack and rolled in the winning goal to secure the 5.8 (38) – 5.3 (33) win at Bond on Saturday.
“There was just over a minute to go and I was actually heading down from the coaches’ box to get around the girls and tell them how proud I was of them no matter what happened,” said Graves. “Then I think Maddy Roberts got the ball out of the middle and it was a contested ball and somehow Lauren got between three or four of them and rolled it home. Lauren James is one of the founders of the team and is definitely the heart of this team so it was a fitting end.”
Donning black armbands in memory of Stevenson, Graves also lauded the effort of her senior players to stand up late in the piece and not give up when Bond kicked a late goal to give them a 33-32 lead.
“The accolade goes to the players and the way they stood up when Bond got the lead,” she said. “We have a lot of young players but it was our senior players who led all day.”
James, who was one of the Bluebirds’ best, joined Casey Samuels, Uma Brennan, Sally
Riley and Ahlani Eddy on the goalkicking sheet.
Grace Moodie, Alex Hamlyn, Samuels and Riley were also influential, while Wallis Randell, Arianna Clarke and Maddison Levi starred for Bond.
Coolangatta continue their QAFLW season this weekend against Aspley while Bond get a chance to rebound against the University of Queensland.