"I always thought Group 10 was stronger until I joined this group".
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After spending just one season, a trophy-filled one at that, with Dubbo CYMS former Orange Hawks speedster Haley Butcherine said it, with her side's victory over Bathurst St Pat's in Sunday's NAB Premiers Challenge acts as proof too.
Butcherine, also a former Premier League Hockey best and fairest winner, played a key role in the Fishies' 24-10 victory over the Saints, which ended the Bathurst side's incredible winning streak too, one that dated back to 2017.
I always thought Group 10 was stronger until I joined this group.
- Dubbo CYMS' Haley Butcherine
In a battle of Group 11 and Group 10's league tag champions the Dubbo side, inspired by Madi Crowe, imposed themselves after an evenly-matched first half to run away with the 14-point win.
Crowe scored a double in a player of the match showing while Butcherine scored a highlight-reel worthy second half try by latching onto a Maddi Chapman kick one-handed, then juggling it all the way to the line.
The victory completed a memorable first year in green and white for Butcherine, completing CYMS' undefeated year.
"It's awesome. Group 10 was my group before so coming here, taking it out in my first year is amazing," she said.
Saints coach Mick Armstrong paid tribute to the Dubbo side following the game but confessed his Saints didn't hit their usual lofty standards, potentially suffering from a slight hangover from their hard-fought, 10-4, grand final win over Hawks.
"We've had a big week and we've celebrated so it was hard to get up," Armstrong said.
"I told the girls a couple of times we were going to be flat but we had to play through it and unfortunately we didn't.
"It is disappointing and I said to the girls it would have been nice to win but CYMS were far too good on the day. They played really well."
CYMS' desperation in defence was one of the major reasons behind their success at Wellington, with Cassie Toomey and Jinnara Tyson in particular getting through a mountain of work.
The Fishies, missing the direction provided by captain Nic Grose, began slowly but seemed to have survived unscathed after a raft of Saints' attacking raids in the first 10 minutes.
But as CYMS worked their way out of trouble Bronte Emanuel snagged an intercept and raced 40 metres under little pressure to score the day's first try.
The Group 11 champions began to find their way and approaching half-time got their reward when Kimberlee Gordon went herself from close range and evaded the defence to get across.
The overnight rain made slick attacking play tricky on the Kennard Park surface tricky but CYMS found their groove in the second half while the errors started to build up for St Pat's.
Crowe sliced through seven minutes into the second stanza to get the Fishies back in front and the Australian touch football representative's second was even better, as she moved across field before the most subtle swivel of the hips allowed her to blitz through a gap and put her side firmly in control.
Darcie Morrison got one back for the Saints when a lovely Mish Somers short ball put her into space but Butcherine's try seven minutes from time sealed CYMS' win.
"The standard of football today was how we played the whole season so we deserved to take it all out, undefeated," Butcherine said, before speaking about her try.
"That was cool. I didn't expect that to end up in my arms but I was off and away."
Butcherine also heaped praise on Crowe after her stunning first season in Group 11 was capped off with the player of the match medal on Sunday.
"She is amazing. To have her join the team has been great and she's got so much experience," Butcherine said.
"She's a champion girl too, on and off the field. She's supportive and taught us a few things and that experience has been great."
- DUBBO CYMS 24 (Madi Crowe 2, Kimberlee Gordon, Haley Butcherine tries; Zenetra Astill 4 goals) def BATHURST ST PAT'S 10 (Bronte Emanuel, Darcie Morrison tries; Mish Somers goal)
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