For Cheryl Sudholz, countless grand finals all roll into a blur of colour and emotion, but nothing stands out more than a fateful day in 2015.
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Natimuk United's A Grade co-coach went through the grand final on instinct alone.
It wasn't till the dust had settled and supporters filed off the City Oval court did the reality sink in.
Not only had her side just won the amalgamated club's first premiership - across both football and netball - but it was forebear Natimuk's first A Grade flag since 1975.
"The grand finals all blur. I related it like being in a wedding," Sudholz said.
"There was that added pressure of it being 40 years on the dot since we last won a flag, so everything was building up to that point.
"The game was a bit of a blur, but that feeling of winning, there is nothing like it."
The Ewes' 2015 season started with a desire for retribution.
The previous season saw the club feature in an A Grade grand final for the first time in a decade, only to be outclassed by Harrow-Balmoral.
Three early wins set the Ewes' season on the right track before a first loss would come against Edenhope-Apsley.
We finally got it and it was excellent. Nothing beats that feeling, especially when you love the club so much.
- Cheryl Sudholz
The side would coast through the coming months untroubled - boasting an average winning margin of 26 goals - before a round 16 loss, again to the Saints, offered a timely reality check.
The Ewes finished the regular season second on the ladder, with only two losses to their name, before beating Laharum in the qualifying final.
Only an undefeated Edenhope-Apsley stood between them and an open passage into a second consecutive grand final.
"That game (against Edenhope-Apsley) probably sticks out more in my mind," Sudholz said.
"We were just going in thinking we'd try our best. They were the team of the year. Not only were they undefeated, but they were a really good side.
"We clicked from the get-go, and I think we worked to a six-goal lead and hung on for the whole game."
The Ewes ran out seven-goal winners and waited with bated breath to see who'd they meet in the grand final.
An upset Laharum win in the other semi-final ensured history would be made on grand final day.
The Ewes were out to break their 40-year A Grade premiership drought, while Laharum had never tasted success at that level before.
"Because we both hadn't won one that added to it all as well. That year was a changing of the guard," Sudholz said.
Despite the experience of the previous year, Sudholz said nerves lingered before the big game.
"In the lead-up, there's a lot of pressure. I know I felt the pressure that year coaching," she said.
"We had 10 girls that year, and it was really hard knowing that some were going to miss out."
Sudholz' coaching partner, Shurlee Skiller, offered a calm head in final preparations.
The Ewes' co-coach was a member of Natimuk's 1975 premiership-winning side.
"It was good to be a part of it ... it was special to be a part of that next (premiership) side as a coach," Skiller said.
Even Skiller wasn't immune to the nerves.
"You get a few nerves each time you get a team through to that point," she said.
"You get more nervous for the girls than anything else. You just hope that they're able to play to their best and get the best out of the team on the day."
Whether attracted by the occasion or by club allegiances, supporters flocked in their droves to City Oval for the grand final.
"The crowds when we've both played, not just 2015 but all the years, you can't see the hill (at City Oval)," Sudholz said.
"We've kind of taken a prime place down one end (of the netball court). It's like a sea of blue.
"You were really going by instinct when you were playing, because you could not hear a thing. You couldn't hear the umpires. The cheering was just astronomical from everyone."
The sense of occasion wasn't lost on the Ewes.
"You could feel it at the club. You're always hungry once you get into the grand final, but there was something special that day," Sudholz said.
"It was our time. We wanted it.
"Some of us had been there for 15 years, if not more. Jo (Taylor) had been there before I arrived (in 2000), and Emily (Hateley) had been there since she was a junior.
"We were just all super hungry at the time."
The game was unforgiving, each team rising to the challenge. Laharum led by a goal at quarter-time and extended the advantage to two at the main break.
But the Ewes rallied. A one-goal Ewes' lead at the final change quickly turned into a five-goal buffer before the final siren confirmed history was made.
"We finally got it, and it was excellent. Nothing beats that feeling, especially when you love the club so much," Sudholz said.
"It means so much not just to the club, but the community and to the town itself."
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