By Marcus Uhe
ROC Netball Club has finished the Outer East Football Netball season as the shining light, scooping a swag of silverware to store at Rob Porter Recreation Reserve.
ROC collected senior premierships in B Grade and D Grade, had Sidney Kneebone crowned the Player of the Year in the B Grade competition and won five of the six junior grand finals, finishing runner up to Narre Warren in the other.
In total, from the 10 competitions ROC entered in 2024, they won seven premierships, finished second in another and had one player win a league medal.
On Saturday on their very own court, they won five to dethrone Narre Warren as the most successful overall netball club, after the Magpies won eight of the 10 on offer in 2023.
ROC president Nicole Robbins attributes the success to an investment in the people and culture, crediting the leadership of those in charge in creating the right environment at Starling Road.
“(Strong culture) stems from the top and I think you’ve got to have a really positive committee that listen to our players and members,” Robbins said.
“We run surveys a couple of times throughout the year to our members to build on that, so we know what is and isn’t working, so that we can make improvements on that.
“We’ve got a lot of families that volunteer their time, the coaches, that are really dedicated, and people that want to be around the club and enjoy being at the club.
“The success also comes from the work that the coaches and teams do to have that bond on the court as well as off the court; It’s all good to have a group of players that play very well, but you’ve actually got to get them to play as a team and the coaches did a really good job of that this year, which is why there was success on the court.”
In putting strong focus on blooding junior players at senior level to foster a connection between the groups, the decision about where the juniors should play their senior netball when the time comes becomes an easy one for many.
With Narre Warren moving competitions and Pakenham relegated to Division One of the competition next year, vacancies are opening at the top of the Premier Division tree to assert themselves as the yardstick club in the region.
“We had seven teams in grand finals last year and only came away with two premierships, so to turn that around this year was a lot of hard work from coaches and players,” Robbins said.
“Both Narre Warren, ourselves and Pakenham, we put time into our coaches – we provide resources, we always try to up-skill them.
“Participation in this region in this area of the South East, there’s a lot of players that go and trial at all different clubs, but then you’ve also got people who have blue and white in their veins and won’t go anywhere.
“We’re hoping to get our A-grade up there, be a benchmark and be a threat to the other clubs.”
