Sport
27 March, 2023
A word from the captain — Matt Smith talks through Laane's premiership success
Premiership number four in succession — not an easy thing to do. Just ask the likes of Norm Smith’s Melbourne, Leigh Matthews’ Brisbane and Alastair Clarkson’s Hawthorn teams. Yet Laanecoorie Dunolly have achieved the feat thanks to their...
Premiership number four in succession — not an easy thing to do. Just ask the likes of Norm Smith’s Melbourne, Leigh Matthews’ Brisbane and Alastair Clarkson’s Hawthorn teams.
Yet Laanecoorie Dunolly have achieved the feat thanks to their five-wicket victory over Colts Phelans on Sunday, one which Laane leader Matt Smith says is his most satisfying yet.
“This is great. It’s incredible. It’s a weight off our shoulders. There’s obviously been a lot of expectation, with people saying Dunolly have been the team to beat, but you still have to win the games — it’s never easy,” he said.
“Colts certainly didn’t make it easy for us over the weekend. I’m really proud of the boys, there’s so much satisfaction to win four premierships in a row for the people who do so much for the club.
“This, for me, is the most satisfying. It’s really the first we’ve won at Princes Park, which is where you want to be playing at this time of year and winning premierships. All the things that happen sometimes behind the scenes, and other things that happened throughout the year, it’s so great and to be out there and contributing to the winning runs is a nice feeling as well.”
Not only were Laane successful throughout the weekend, they were able to go through the entire season undefeated. That came despite washouts in the early phase of the season, while the expectation of winning when they did get out onto the field was also a telling factor.
It’s a point not lost on Smith.
“It’s been a remarkable season to go through undefeated. It’s been a season like no other with the washouts and player unavailability at times,” he said.
“We do read comments about us on social media, everyone wants us to trip up and we know we’re going to have to face the music when it happens, so the pressure is on all the time. But our boys are so driven to deliver results, and they deserve it, they work hard to get them.”
Laane’s victory was set up by a brilliant bowling performance, with all players bowling a consistent good length throughout the day, coupled with aggressive fielding positions. It meant that Colts found it difficult to score runs quickly, which pleased Smith to no end.
“To bowl 78 overs and have a team only make 150 is an incredible achievement. Our bowlers bowled in partnership and supported each other really well. We’re a team that works on building pressure, knowing that mistakes will come. If we bowl enough balls in a good area, we will either dry the runs up and get through the overs really quickly,” he said.
“Our bowlers did an incredible job — sometimes their role changes, but that’s the nature of the game sometimes.”
One of those bowlers who performed well is Samit Gohil, who took 5/34 from 17 overs.
Gohil’s performance with both bat and ball, adding 75 on Sunday, helped him claim best on ground, completing one of the most dominant seasons the league has ever seen.
Smith said Gohil’s exploits will be remembered for years to come.
“Samit is an incredible player, a brilliant talent and someone who players will remember playing against for a long time,” he said.
“He’s had an incredible career and he has cleaned up everything. What I love about Samit is his passion. He’s so passionate about our cricket club and he is driven to do well. He works very hard on his game, training most days of the week, doing running blocks, gym sessions, batting three or four times a week. He deserves everything he gets through his desire to do well for us.”
Smith didn’t want to forget about the contributions of Laane’s top six batsmen throughout the season, with all their run-scoring ability coming to the fore when they needed it on Sunday.
“You’re always nervous wondering if you lose a couple of early wickets, but Zach Graham and Tom Hannett got us off to a great start, sitting on 25 before we lost a wicket. As has happened most of the season, Tom and Samit put on a great partnership. Tom plays a great supporting role to Samit, allowing him to play his game while holding up the other end. Their 60-run partnership broke the game open,” he said.
“As we have done during the year throughout different times, when we try to get on with it and score quickly, we do lose a couple of soft wickets, and we lost a couple which got them back into the game a little bit. We knew that our top six need to get the majority of the runs to get the job done and we did so again.
“Colts built pressure. But we still liked to get the scoreboard ticking over, knowing we were chasing 150, we were ticking off 10 runs at a time. We were 4/113, and Samit and I hit 20 overs in the last four overs before tea, which made it much more comfortable.”
Smith also paid tribute to the club’s young brigade, with Joe Lovel, Thang Nguyen and Lachie Condie playing roles in the A grade team this season.
“For Joe Lovel to have two A grade premierships behind him by the time he’s 16 is brilliant. We’ve also had Thang Nguyen contribute, he’s 14, as well as Lachie Condie. It’s been great getting some juniors in to expose them to senior cricket,” he said.
After a period of celebration, Smith expects the band to largely stay together in their pursuit of a fifth title.
“Four in a row is fantastic, and I think the majority of us will come back next season to have a go at a fifth. It would be special,” he said.