From the Office of the Richmond Central Pythons

Press Release: Immediate

It is with great pride and more than a hint of sadness that I write today to announce the end of the RC Pythons Netball team. At the conclusion of this Cityside Season, the RC Pythons will disband and the RC Pythons name will be sent to the rafters of Ryan’s Reserve — immortalised.

The decision in the end was unanimous amongst the playing group, the team unable to perform at their best week in week out. Inconsistency in roster, retirements due to injuries, and generally just life getting in the way. One of the hallmarks of the Pythons’ premiership run was consistency in roster, and more importantly continuation in key position players. It is for these reasons that the Pythons have agreed to finish up as a netball team.

A History:

The RC Pythons team was formed in 2012 by Jess Larritt as founding member, initially put together to join the Richmond Central Thursday night comp. In the early days, the Pythons more resembled the District 5 Ducks before Coach Bombay and Adam Banks got involved (if you don’t know the reference, you haven’t lived). The Pythons took more than their fair share of hidings in the early seasons, as players came and went.  Still to this day, our captain reminds us regularly about the players that left due to the team not being up to their standards. Quite rightly we have remembered them, and have taken an extra bit of joy when hammering their new teams on a regular basis.  Jess remained determined and slowly built up the team around her, rewarding loyalty, commitment to the team, and a passion to hang around for post-game dumplings.

 

The Premiership Years:

Things started to come right for the Pythons in mid 2014 as the core of the current Pythons came together. Alanna, Jess and Elle were joined by Parks, Maria and Fed who would turn out to be the difference in a tough season, securing the RC Pythons maiden premiership on September 18th 2014.  The Pythons would collect their second Premiership in early 2015 before making the big commitment to pick-up a full time coach in May of 2015. Coach Baron was a long-time Pythons fan prior to being asked on board as coach, and his analytical approach, data analysis, and bullying of the shooters really took the Pythons to the next level.  Around the same time the Pythons cemented their core with the arrival of Jen Ingram, Laura Hindson and Amanda Langerak. The same 9 players formed the roster for the next 2 years.

The RC Pythons would go on to win four more Premierships including being the first and only team to go unbeaten for a full regular season in RC Netball history. On the 5th of April 2016, the Pythons would beat the Cobras 24-4 in the Grand Final to go 17-0 (games won – lost)  and complete the dream. After being one of the most consistent players in Pythons’ history, Amanda Parker was rewarded with the Sandy Robertson Medal for the Best and Fairest as voted by the players over the Summer 2016 season.

The Pythons would get together after completing the perfect season and make the big decision to jump ship from Melbourne Netball to join the Tuesday Night Cityside comp. This move was to promote more difficult competition and to push the team to the next level. The goal was to achieve more of the same, and we expected to go on and win more silverware. 

As history would play out, it certainly lead to a higher level of competition, particularly noticeable in the contested ball area. The Pythons would lose three of their core starting seven to serious ACL injuries, and subsequently, Pythons legends Laura Hindson and Amanda Langerak would announce their retirement from all netball. Langerak was the Pythons starting GA for five of the six premierships and a career 70+% shooter. Langerak’s impact cannot be understated, shown by her Sandy Robertson Medal win in her final season, even though she missed the final five games due to injury. Laura Hindson was massively missed when she went down, renowned throughout all of Richmond for having a huge ticker, being great when things got rough and provided a viable third shooting option (which we ultimately missed a lot). Alanna Dunne remains adamant she will come back from injury and play again, so the last chapter of her story in Richmond may be still to play out. 

The End: 

The Pythons have one game to go in the current Cityside season, a poor loss on Tuesday night against a team we would have pumped in the old days, simply reaffirmed we were making the right decision. With no chance of making the finals, the Pythons will play fellow Richmond Central team the RC Adders to draw down the curtain, Tuesday night under lights, one last time. 

February 21

9:35

Court 3

RC Adders

vs.

RC Pythons

The Pythons are a family, and will continue to be so, with or without netball. The social side has always been just as important as the netball, and will take the front seat from now on, as we move onto the next chapter.  

 

It has been an honor and a privilege.

In no particular order, a Roll Call of the RC Pythons all time Roster:

Jess L

Amanda P

Laura H

Jen I

Jenny L

Jordan

Del

Ness

Alanna D

Elle M

Maria C

Fed K

Amanda L

Sharlz

Hayley

Flick

Lorraine K

Ash

Rosie

Rhiarn

Shenay

Paige

Laura D

Amber

George