SHE was sore, she was bruised but when the full-time siren sounded at George Park 2 on Saturday Katie Kennedy was also a two-time premiership winning captain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was pure elation when the Bathurst Giants leader raised the AFL Central West women's premiership trophy aloft after her side's 3-1-19 to 0-2-2 win over the Dubbo Demons.
It more made the effort she had produced over the previous four quarters worthwhile.
"I think that was the most physical game I've ever played in, I felt I was getting thrown around out there like a rag doll," Kennedy said.
"But hey, I mean being a premiership captain you're going to have a target on your back.
"We did it, we won and I'm happy to have that target on my back if it means we win premierships."
Saturday's win added to the maiden premiership the Giants claimed by beating the Bathurst Bushrangers in the 2019 decider.
While that campaign saw the Giants go undefeated and the grand final was a higher scoring affair - Kennedy's side winning 7-8-50 to 4-1-25 - she relished Saturday's premiership win even more.
"Oh my god, freaking unbelievable. To do it once is freaking amazing, but to do it twice is even better," the captain said.
"Last year I was so emotional, it was like 'Oh my God, I never expected it'. But this year we went in there, we knew we were the favourites, the pressure was on and to win it was absolutely amazing.
"I told the girls that win or lose the toss we'd probably be going against the wind so we could have our crowd with us for the home stretch. I said that we were going to be under pressure and we needed to come out and give it everything that we've got and we kept them to just two behind the whole game.
"So I couldn't ask for anything more for them. Dubbo, they did not stop all game, so congratulations to them."
