Cavendish win first premiership since 1993 with dominant performance

A four year plan leads to premiership glory for the Cavendish Football Netball Club. It’s first since the 1990s. Find out how the day unfolded here.

For the first time this millennium the Cavendish Bloods have a football premiership to celebrate in seniors.

The Bloods claimed their first premiership in the South West District Football League since 1993 with an emphatic 75 point win over Dartmoor in the decider.

Cavendish not only broke a 29 year drought but became one of the first senior clubs in Victoria to win a premiership for the first time in three years since Covid cancelled the 2020 and 2021 season.

The town, located about 25km from Hamilton and 120km from Warrnambool, has a population of just under 500.

“That’s exciting (about being one of the first),” Cavendish coach Clinton Thomas said.

“Up until now it’s only just settling in (the win).

“There’s not been a lot of celebration but relief.”

Cavendish set up the win in the first half, keeping Dartmoor to just four points, including a scoreless second quarter for the Giants.

The Bloods kicked six goals themselves to lead by 38 points at the main break before adding nine more in the second half to storm to victory.

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Sam Gibson kicked eight goals for the premiers, taking his total to 20 in the three finals he played.

“It might have been a bit one sided the scoreboard but it wasn’t played that way,” Thomas said.

“Dartmoor gave us a contest.”

Thomas said the team executed its game plan perfectly to nullify the Dartmoor attack and take the contest away from them.

“We knew their game style, we knew who the playmakers were and where they wanted to tap the ball,” he said.

“Their key assets, we nullified.

“We also set up a pretty integral role at the back with a couple of intercept markers.

“It was a well executed game plan.”

Thomas said Tim Huf and Will Luhrs were fantastic in the forward line alongside Sam Gibson with Brad Thomas sensational in the middle.

But he couldn’t have been prouder of the way the club has bounced back.

In 2018 and 2019 the club won one game and was at the bottom of the ladder both seasons.

At times, a dozen of their squad was forced to play seniors and reserves on the same day to field both teams.

Thomas, who is also part of the committee, and the club set about changing the culture to make sure the good times came back.

“We laid a solid foundation (in 2019 into 2020) and over the two Covid years it gave us a chance to build,” he said.

“There’s been a lot of movement off the field as well.

“In 2019 we didn’t have juniors, so we’ve gone from nothing to an under-11, under-14 and under-17 team this year.

“We’ve got incredible numbers on the track.”

Thomas said it’s been the most successful year for the club in terms of numbers and members for football and netball.

Now it finally has premiership success in seniors after almost 30 years.

The team, after finishing third in the regular season, won all three matches to be crowned champions.

“It’s been a great year but been over a build up of four years,” Thomas said.

“A lot of clubs will buy players in but we’ve gone all local.

“All home grown, all from within.

“It’s a big drought breaking premiership for us, and it’s very special for the community.”