AFL Mackay Women: Saints exact revenge on Hawks to finally taste premiership glory

North Mackay overcame a decade of finals defeats and a haunting grand final showing to taste premiership success. Hear from the coach on the standout performers and how they did it.

North Mackay Saints women’s side tasted the utimate success. Picture: Supplied.

They say the third time’s a charm, but how about the tenth?

The North Mackay Saints have been competing in AFL Mackay women’s since the league’s inception a decade ago.

They made the finals every season, but Saturday’s grand final win produced their first premiership, and boy, was it special.

“For the girls, it’s 10 years of trials and tribulations and failures… but we finally managed to get over the line,” Saints coach James Gallagher said.

“We put that 10 years into one night’s worth of partying.”

Speaking on Mad Monday, Gallagher described the celebrations as “colossal”.

The Saints’ Mad Monday celebrations. Picture: Supplied.

But they wouldn’t have been possible without the comprehensive showing that was the Saints’ grand final performance, downing the Mackay City Hawks 5.8 (38) to 0.1 (1).

Gallagher was thrilled with the performance.

“You always have individual battles… there were four or five, and we won every single battle,” he said.

Kirra Svenson’s battle with Demi Leach - who was playing her 50th club game - was arguably the most pivotal, and she prevailed, tagging the Hawks champion out of the game.

“For (Leach’s) standards she was well off the mark. In these games some of your superstars are meant to get nullified, otherwise the other team’s not doing their job,” Gallagher said.

“For Kirra to be selfless the way that she is, she sacrificed her own game for our team and did a tremendous job.”

North Mackay's Rahnee Vaccaneo is now a premiership captain. Picture: Supplied.

Lyneeka Hollows also starred, capping off her terrific season to boot four of the game’s five majors.

“Once the ball was getting in there she was impactful as always,” Gallagher said.

“Just her speed and ability was 100%, she’s one of the best in this league.

“She knew she could get targeted in this game, so we made sure her mind was iron going in and she was prepared for contact.”

As is expected in a display of such dominance, a number of others also impressed Gallagher.

“Siobhan Carlton put on another epic performance,” Gallagher said.

“She is just an absolute weapon of a person on and off the field. I can’t say enough high praise about her… she’ll push herself to any limit to make sure our girls come out on top.

“In my eyes Siobhan Carlton was best-on-ground.”

As she has all season, North Mackay's Siobhan Carlton starred on grand final day. Picture: Supplied.

That honour however was reserved for Alysha Nunn.

“(It was) deserved as well,” Gallagher said.

“Emily Upton and Alysha, our younger girls with the smaller bodies, their speed and outside play and link up work was great.”

There was an air of satisfaction about North Mackay in having kept the Hawks goalless, for the Hawks inflicted an eerily similar fate on the Saints in last season’s grand final to prevail 42 to 3.

North Mackay Saints women's coach James Gallagher (left) and men’s coach Chayse Tilley (right) celebrating their premiership success. Picture: Supplied.

Now that heartbreak can be put behind them.
The Saints can step into a new dawn that, by design, is doused in the well-drilled makings of their men’s recent five-peat.

Gallagher himself had been involved in the men’s program since 2003 as both player and assistant coach, before taking over the women’s side last season.

“We’ve implemented (the men’s) program into the girls for the last year, and they’ve taken to it and gotten the results,” Gallagher said.

“We’re making sure that we compete the way the North Mackay Saints do, and if they do that and follow these processes it’s been successful so far.”