By Ben Martin, Colac Herald
It’s been a big few weeks of netball milestones at Otway Districts, with three Demons combining for over 750 games.
Otway celebrated the 250-game milestones of Larni Conn and Lydia Denny in Saturday’s 44-36 C Grade win over Simpson, while teammate Emma Craddock will reach the milestone against South Colac in a fortnight.
Conn said it had been an honour to reach the milestone at one club, and to be able to share it with “two absolute legends”.
“We’d actually lost one of our netball honour boards, so the club had been asking around to update their stats,” she said.
“Lydia actually reached 250 games a while ago but we missed it, she’s about 270-odd now, and Emma’s got hers coming up.”
Craddock and Denny are products of the Demons’ junior program, while Conn made the move to join her partner Luke Craddock at Gellibrand in 2008 after three years with Apollo Bay.
“I was always going to play at either Otway or Apollo Bay, my dad Wayne had played for both, so growing up we hung around both clubs,” she said.
“But after three years with Apollo Bay I fell for an Otway bloke and the rest is history.”
Conn, winner of Colac district netball’s C Grade league medal in 2011 and a member of the Demons’ 2013 C Grade premiership, said it was the people and the culture at Otway Districts that kept netballers like her, Denny and Craddock coming back.
“Obviously there’s a love of netball, but it’s also the people and the culture at the club,” she said.
“It’s that mixture of bush and coast.”
Craddock’s children Asha, 11, and Toby, 9, have made their CDFNL debuts with the Demons this season, while Conn said she looks forward to the day that her two children Elsie, 5, and Max, 1, suit up in the red and blue.
Conn said it was an honour to share the milestone with Denny on the weekend.
“She’s a superstar, her ability to read the play is amazing,” she said.
“She’s a wonderful person and so humble, almost too humble.
“It’s been an honour to play with her over the years.”
