Perfect Gryphons eye premiership hat-trick

After a perfect 18-0 season that delivered a second successive flag in 2025, Glen Eira/Old McKinnon will be chasing VAFA immortality – a premiership hat-trick – in 2026.

Coach Mel Kuys is a perfect 2-for-2 in her first senior coaching role, following a successful AFLW and VFLW playing career that saw her play 15 AFLW games with Collingwood and win a VFLW flag with Hawthorn. Now her sights are set on an achievement that very few VAFA teams attain.

Having joined the program for 2024, Mel led the Gryphons’ senior women’s team to the Division 2 minor premiership with a 15-1 record, followed by two dominant finals wins to claim the flag.

Stepping up to Division 1 in 2025, Mel felt her team was well-placed to compete at the higher level, and so it proved.

“Player retention was huge for us,” said Mel, “and it continued the ‘buy-in’ from our players, which is so important.

“The building blocks were already there. We had a really good core group of players that not only know how to play footy, but also understand how to move the footy and are quite tactical. I just had to build on that and get a bit more buy-in from the outer group.”

The Gryphons announced their arrival in Division 1 with a 38-point win over Richmond Central, followed by a hard-fought 2-goal win over Oakleigh. A strong win over Whitefriars set up a Round 4 clash with Old Haileybury, which turned out to be a thriller.

“We had a lot of players out that game through injury or work,” Mel recalls. “Haileybury were lower on the ladder, but they surprised us and our girls just were not switched on. They expected to jump on the park and win. But that game actually went right down to the wire.”

The Gryphons managed to hang on by 4 points, despite kicking 2.16. It was a wake-up call that Mel felt the team needed.

“A little bit of complacency did come into the team, which is natural when you’ve been winning so much that you just get used to winning and singing that song at the end of the game. Some teams tried to understand our game plan and a few of our strengths, and took them away from us.

“I’ve got three or four different ways that we can play to manipulate the oppo, but it came back down to want, and that willingness to just win the contest. The players are the drivers. At the end of the day, I can bring in a great game plan, and I can be that voice to really push them at training, but it’s them turning up to every session and wanting to be better themselves.”

Round 5 brought another hefty win (by 53 points over Parkdale Vultures), which set up a Round 6 showdown with the also unbeaten Monash Blues, who were coming off a 74-point thumping of Old Haileybury.

“Monash had come down from Premier B. I thought they would be our biggest contender, and they were.”

It turned out to be another thriller, with the Gryphons saluting 5.7 to 5.1 to seize top spot by 6 points.

“I thought we were a really good chance to contend once that happened.”

While Glen Eira/Old McKinnon kept winning, teams kept challenging them – such as Whitefriars, who pushed them within 3 points in Round 10 after being held goalless in their earlier Round 3 meeting.

Nonetheless, the Gryphons entered their Round 15 clash against Power House with a perfect 14-0 record, including another victory over the Blues in Round 13.

Glen Eira/Old McKinnon had comfortably beaten Power House by 37 points in Round 9, but this game proved to be far less comfortable as the underdogs seized control. Two unanswered goals gave them a 7-point lead at the final change, as the Gryphons’ perfect season hung in the balance.

“They played better than us all game,” Mel admits.

“They beat us around the ball, and they were better in their forward line than us. That game was a worry, and at three-quarter time, I thought we might lose.”

“I pulled them in and said to them, ‘Hey, it’s great that we keep winning, but we’re putting ourselves in a position that’s making it hard for ourselves. So, it’s up to you in the end. Do you want to win this game? We’re about to go into finals, but we’re not playing our best footy. Let’s just get this one done, forget about it, and move on to the next.’

Mel drew on her experience as a player to navigate the fine line between motivation and demotivation.

“It is a mixture of not allowing them to get complacent, but obviously not giving them too much that they look at me and go, ‘Well, we’re winning Mel. We’re on top of the ladder.’ It is a fine line.”

The Gryphons responded, holding Power House scoreless in the last term to keep their winning streak alive with a 6-point win. They then belted Parkdale Vultures by 10 goals to complete their perfect home & away season.

That set up a Second Semi Final meeting with the team Mel had identified as their biggest challenger – Monash Blues.

“I reflected back to the Parkdale game the previous week and highlighted how good we can be when we’re at our best, and that we’re more than capable of beating Monash by a fair bit if we play as a team and not try to do things individually – which happened in that Power House game.

“And I think that just clicked for them. They realised that if they play as a unit and bring their strengths, we’re better for it as a team.”

Mel also had the nice problem of a healthy list, which meant some finals selection headaches to navigate.

“There were a few hard calls that had to be made, that’s for sure. I had way too many players available. So, it came down to ability and to our core values as a team, which we had put in place during our pre-season camp. What the team lived for and why they’re playing the game.

“We stand for respect – for ourselves, our teammates, our club and our opposition. Good sportsmanship. We all think that’s super important. Commitment is also. Commitment to the trainings and games, and commitment to the team.

“Communication is another. Making sure that we’re always communicating – mostly to myself if something’s happening in your life, so I can help you. Then communicating to the group, so we know where you are at, because things come up in life. We want to be there to help each other.

“And then the last one is sisterhood. It was about being there for each other and having that united connection. We find that super important in our team.

“When we first started it, I gave them a list of things that you could put in your values, because they’d never done it before. And then they pulled it apart from that.”

Trailing by 2 points after a tight opening term, the Gryphons exploded in the second term, slamming on 4 unanswered goals to seize control of the Second Semi, leading by 24 points at the major break. 3 goals to 2 in the second half was enough to see them through to the Grand Final with an impressive 32-point win.

Monash Blues regrouped to sneak past a plucky Whitefriars in the Preliminary Final after kicking 1.5 to no score in the final term and scoring a 7-point win that set up a return showdown with the Gryphons on Grand Final Day.

“We went over the Second Semi and had a really good look at what they tried to do to us,” Mel recalls.

“And I raised a couple of scenarios – ‘if they do this, we will do this.’ So we were prepared, and that worked really well in the end. We knew our roles, and we were able to counteract what Monash were going to try and do, because they showed their cards a little bit in that first final.

“Trying to keep our girls playing to their strengths was the biggest thing. Try not to overthink. We’ve got to this point for a reason. Don’t try to do something that you’re not capable of.”

Pre-game, Mel soaked up the Grand Final energy in the rooms.

“Rocking up to the game and seeing the girls’ faces, and the joy of that first interaction with them all was special. Just seeing the joy they had was definitely a special moment for me.

“Good nerves is probably the best way to describe it. We’re a very competitive group. They remind me of myself really. They really care. They think a lot. They’re just determined. That’s the best way to explain them.”

“Those photos being taken before they go out and play is special too, also involving the girls that missed out and didn’t get to play. Making sure they felt involved – that’s a huge thing for me, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t take that one team that played on the day to win. It took the whole squad.

“I know what it feels like to miss out on a Grand Final (Mel missed Port Melbourne’s 2023 flag through injury). So that hits home for me, so I was trying to make sure that they felt just as much a part of it as I could.”

The first half of the Grand Final mirrored the Second Semi clash between the two teams. Nothing separated them at quarter-time, then, just as they had in the final a fortnight earlier, Glen Eira/Old McKinnon put the foot down in the second term.

“We just started to play our brand of footy,” Mel reflects.

“It wasn’t one particular moment. It was a good ten minutes of just winning contest, running, carrying, using the open side, hitting targets, and I think we put three or four goals on them in the matter of a couple of minutes. And that’s when I knew that we were probably going to win.”

The Gryphons headed to halftime with a commanding 21-point lead, having held the Blues to a single goal in the opening half. Kicking with the breeze in the third term, Monash booted the only goal of the term as Glen Eira/Old McKinnon went into a defensive hold and closed the game down to lead by 14 points at the last change.

“Don’t take risks if they’re not there to be taken’ was my main message,” Mel recalls.

“The vibe amongst our group was nervous. Excited. I did a pump-up chat right at the end and made them scream. That’s usually pretty impactful when I do it because I don’t want to use that too often; otherwise, it doesn’t have the effect.”

“They were all laughing. I think that when I get the best out of them is when they laugh.”

The Gryphons kicked a further two goals to one in the last quarter to cap their perfect season.

“Before the siren, I was trying to make sure our captain and the players who missed out on the Grand Final the previous year were all on the ground,” said Mel. “I wanted them to soak it up as much as they could.”

“Once the siren went, it was just relief after all the hard work we’d put in. We upstairs at Moorleigh Reserve and sung the song in a big group. We got our family and friends involved, plus support staff, so it was a massive circle. Then we gave out presents and thank-yous. There were a few girls that were shedding tears.

“And then we all went back to the club, and it was a huge party. The best memory was from about 8 or 9 o’clock at night. We all walked out into the middle of our ground in the dark, took a boombox speaker, got into a circle and just started singing random songs, chanting and dancing.

“It’s exciting at the time to win the flag and go celebrate. Some of the girls won’t realise it yet, but we now have that connection piece forever. There are a couple of girls who are a bit older that I played footy with in the VFL who completely understand it.

“Our club is very inclusive. The boys came back and celebrated with us. It wasn’t that the ‘girls’ won the flag. It was the CLUB that won the flag. Our president was there, the committee, past boys and past girls’ players, family and friends, mums and dads, and we went all the way until about 5 in the morning.

“Fifteen years ago, when I won a flag, there was absolutely no way that the boys would have come back and celebrated with us. It was literally just us and maybe a couple of mates. It was very much just a girls’ thing, but now it’s so different. It’s so much more inclusive. That’s AFLW’s greatest legacy, and I think there’s still so much growth to be explored in that area as well.”

Having had the chance to reflect and compare both premierships, Mel realises both were unique in their own way.

“It was definitely harder the second time around. I felt like I had more expectation in Year 2. Plus, I showed a lot of my cards in Year 1, so I had to bring different things into the team as well. I probably put more time in because opponents were harder, and I wanted to invest a bit more to show the girls that I was there for them.

“So, winning a premiership flag for the first time was a great feeling. But to win it after a couple of super close games in Year 2 felt like all that hard work behind the scenes from our coaches, and the girls getting to training early to do extra skill work – it was just a relief that it was worth all that time we invested.”

“I gave the players a good break at the end of last season, as I do train them pretty hard.

“Then in our first session back, I spoke about expectations from me and expectations of themselves. And it was mainly that we’ve just got to get better. Come to each session with that mindset. We’re going to push each other along the way as well, so it’s not just me driving it. It’s going to be every single player that’s on the track.

“We’re setting the standards a bit higher this year, that’s for sure. We’re going up a division. It’s going to be a little bit harder, and yes, we might have Monash coming up with us, but other than that, they’re all different teams that we’ve never come up against.

“Those teams have more experience. We know that, so there’s that hunger, and we know we might not win every game.”

Mel plans to keep adding to the game plan that has worked successfully over the past couple of seasons.

“Yeah, there are a few tweaks that I’m going to add to our game plan to maximise the potential that we have on the list. But there’s also no point in having a game plan if the players can’t bring it out on game day.

“We’ve pretty much retained our whole list, and I’m definitely happy that we’re retaining pretty much everyone except for one player who’s going to travel the world for a bit. But we will see her at some point in the year. We’ve also recruited a few players as well, which is quite handy.”

An incredible 35 wins from 36 matches has led the Gryphons to back-to-back premierships and now a rare opportunity to win a hat-trick of VAFA flags – an achievement that few teams realise in this promotion/relegation system.

Will legacy form part of Mel’s messaging throughout 2026?

“There will be a conversation, probably at our pre-season camp when we go through everything, which we do every year. But it will also be about building on the blocks that we’ve already built. I don’t want to go backwards. Every week will be about getting better.

“I will probably talk about the fact that this is rare, absolutely. Let’s make the most of every opportunity, and we could make history here.”