Statewide score wrap: Milivojevic in special feat as Western Lions mark four-peat

Author: Jacob Grams QRL community content producer
Timestamp: Mon 11 Sep 2023, 02:31 PM

Four seasons, four premierships - it's an enviable record belonging to Natasha Milivojevic after her Western Lions beat Centrals Tigers 24-16 to claim the Townsville women's title on Sunday.

The team, which lost just one game all season, was made to work for their four-peat in a tense decider at Townsville Sports Reserve, pulling away late after little separated the teams at halftime.

Young prop Hannah De Daunton starred, scoring a try and being awarded player of the match.

Milivojevic, 42, has the honour of being the only player in the side to have been there for each of the four triumphs, which she couldn't have imagined when she switched to rugby league after a past in netball and cricket.

"I started rugby league when I was 38. Coming over to football as a whole new player, we get spoken to by our coaches and the first words are like, 'enjoy this because some guys that have played football their whole lives never make a final'. It's something that some teams never make," she said.

Natasha Milivojevic with the premiership shield.

"And I was like, the first one, that's pretty cool, then I got a second and now at that four, it's unreal that we can experience that when some players don't get to experience it at all."

Milivojevic said there were so many factors that went into the success, from the backing of the club to the commitment of the players and their families.

"I think it's being more family than a team, like being there with each other and building that bond and that carries it onto the field," she said.

"Our girls, we've got young ones like Hannah De Daunton, who won player of the final yesterday, she's still in high school, so she's 17 and still studying, we've got people with kids and they come down or the kids sit on the sideline while we're training, the family come down and support and that, so I think it's that real family orientation that we have at the whole club.

"All the boys and all the committee are very supportive. They're very, very supportive and very proud of us and even the boys in the stand (on Sunday), and just out on the field and to have them all yelling 'four-peat', it's really nice to be acknowledged by the other teams in the club like that."

She also couldn't do it without her own family, particularly her husband Jason, daughter Holley and mum Lynne.

A couple of the Western Lions Old Boys celebrating with the team

Milivojevic, who came off the bench in the decider, said the win was not just a tribute to those families, but also the six players who missed out on selection for the grand final, the team knowing full well the contribution they made to the season.

Milivojevic, who is studying nursing with an eye to going on to medicine, will spend the off-season weighing up whether to go around again, but when she does hang up the boots she plans to contribute as a trainer.

The start of Western Lions' Mad Monday celebrations.

In the other three games on Townsville senior grand final day, minor premiers Brothers took home the men's A grade grand final 42-16 with prop Nicholas Brown scoring a hat-trick, while Centrals won reserve grade 20-0 and Brothers won the Under 19s in a thriller 17-16, also over Souths.