Football
4 August, 2025
Burras produce upset to claim inaugural WFNL premiership
Minyip Murtoa's senior women's football side pulled off an upset in the biggest game of the year, defeating Laharum in the grand final to take out the Wimmera Football Netball League's inaugural women's premiership.
The final score was Minyip Murtoa 4.4 (28) to Laharum 2.3 (15).
Laharum entered the grand final as heavy favourites, having gone undefeated in the regular season, with their closest victory being a 23-12 win against the Burras back in round one.
The Burras displayed their intent early, creating scoring opportunities before Ashlee Ison booted a 35-metre set shot from an intercept mark to score the first goal to give Minyip Murtoa an 8-0 lead.
Rylee Hateley would soon get Laharum on the scoreboard with a goal of her own, but the Burras responded through a Tegan Kerrins goal to lead 14-6 at the first break.
Laharum coach Rod Hogan reiterated to his team Minyip Murtoa's strong defensive positioning at the break, and initialy the Demons looked to gain control of the game.
However, the Burras halted Laharum's second-quarter comeback, disrupting the Demons' disposals and making crucial intercept marks to lead 15-6 at halftime.
In the second half, Laharum displayed snippets of fast-paced upfield movement that defined their dominant season.
Still, the Demons struggled to create looks inside 50s, with Turvey delivering another goal for the Burras as they took a 21-6 lead at the final break.
An early fourth-quarter goal from Olivia Lenehan brought the Demons back in the game, but the Burras immediately responded, with critical marks helping deliver a Scarlett Funcke goal.
Minyip Murtoa would eventually hold on, creating history as the league's inaugural premiers.
Minyip Murtoa's Ashlee Ison was named best on ground for her performance in the winning effort.
Along with Ison, Funcke, Georgia McIntyre, and Turvey were some of the Burras' best players.
For Laharum, Emalie Iredell, Ruby Manson and Hateley impressed in the side's losing effort.
Nick Cushing, coach of Minyip Murtoa, was overjoyed for his side following the victory.
"I feel very proud of them because they've worked so hard," Cushing said.
"It's awesome for them to get the win, plus it's a bit of an underdog story."
Asked about the game plan that helped limit Laharum, Cushing says the team focused on a one-on-one approach to limit their running game.
"The three games through the year, we tried to play other things to see what we could do, and none of them worked," Cushing said.
"So we went back to basics, and it was just one-on-ones and stop them from running and kicking the ball because they (Laharum) do well getting it out of their backline, but today, the girls did really well shutting that down.
"Our pressure today was just elite."
During the quarter breaks, Cushing says he told the girls to match the pressure Laharum would bring.
"Laharum can score goals, and they can score them quickly, so I told the girls at every quarter break, 'they're gonna come, and they're gonna come hard, and we're going to have to absorb that pressure,' and we did for every quarter.
"Keeping them to two goals, considering we hadn't beaten them all year, it's a really good effort from the girls today."
After winning best on ground, Ison was quick to credit the team effort over her individual accolade.
"It's amazing to win, but as a team, to win a premiership, that doesn't come around very often.
“I know we didn't come into this game as the favourite, but to give it all our best and win, it is amazing."
