The Healesville U11 Girls’ hard work came to fruition as they lifted the premiership flag on the last day of the season.
Coach Stuart Rainbow was proud of the girls’ attitude and achievement over the season and said seeing them win the premiership is something he’ll never forget.
“The season’s been absolutely incredible. The girls have grown so much not just as footballers, but as people in general,” he said.
“It’s been inspiring to watch their journey along the way.”
The Healesville Junior Football Club’s U11 Girls lost the first two games at the beginning of the 2025 season.
Despite the disappointing results, the footballers didn’t give up.
Rather, they started working out to improve themselves for the rest of the season.
At the beginning of the season, the team recruited some girls who were younger than the others, and the older girls were not happy playing with the younger players.
To overcome the age gap and build good team chemistry, the coach implemented a mini-me program, like a buddy program in schools, where older players pair with younger girls to provide support, guidance, and social interaction.
“The biggie-mes looked after their mini-mes,” Rainbow said.
“Every time they turned up the training, they grabbed them, they take them to the side, they give them handballs and kicks, and the love that they had for each other was just incredible.”
Besides the age gap, the team had one more assignment left to change their momentum to the winning phase.
Nearly half of the girls were first-time players who didn’t have enough football skills, which made it tough for the team in the first few games.
“We started off the season with a couple of losses, and then the girls started to work on their skills. Throughout the year, they worked really hard on that, and they ended up starting to win some games,” the coach said.
“It wasn’t really just about winning one game, it’s been months of turning up, training hard, learning, backing each other every step of the way, and also supporting each other, which has been amazing.
“What also helped us was playing players in different positions throughout the season. They learnt how their teammates started to play, where they needed to be in their position on the field if a certain player got the ball, where they’re going to kick or handle, and they also learnt what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are.”
Although they lost one more game in the rest of the season, the Healesville girls turned into a new team after the frustrating start and kept their morale until the end of the season.
After putting lots of effort into training, the team was equipped with an incredible defence, which they dubbed the Great Wall of China.
The Great Wall of China brought not only a premiership to the team but also brilliant results in the last nine games of the season on their way towards the flag.
“They won the last nine games, and in seven of those games, they didn’t have a score kicked against them at all, which was amazing. And in the last nine games, they’ve only had one goal kicked against them, which was in the semi-final, which doesn’t normally happen in football at all in any league,” Rainbow said.
In his first year of coaching this team, Rainbow said he could lead the team to the top because he’d got great people around him to develop the young footballers’ potential, including an assistant coach, a team manager and trainers.
“We’ve got great parents around us and supporters as well. When you’ve got great people around you, which includes the players, parents, coaches, supporters of all, amazing things happen, and that’s what made the difference for all of us,” the coach said.
“We were all in this together. It was just basically a big family, which is what I loved. Personally, I have two daughters in this team as well, but I feel like I’ve ended up with another 15 daughters.”
Healesville U11 Girls took on Monbulk in the grand final, who defeated Healesville in round 6 earlier in the season.
The Healesville girls redeemed the loss in round 13, where they didn’t let the opposition score any goals or behinds, finishing the game with the score of Healesville 8.10.58 to Monbulk 0.0.0.
In the grand final, the scoreboard for Monbulk stayed empty again while Healesville junior girls kicked three goals and three behinds.
The final score was Healesville 3.3.21 to Monbulk 0.0.0.
When asked if he’d like to continue to coach the team, Rainbow said he’d love to if the girls and parents want him next season.
