Community, culture at heart of club's drought-breaking milestone

Three years - more than 1000 days - had passed since the club's last win.

Positive signs were there, a heartbreaking loss against Evandale and an almost miraculous comeback against Old Launcestonians proved that a victory was just a matter of time, or luck.

But when the Suns finally got over the line against UTAS in front of a raucous Westbury crowd, it felt like the tireless work off-field to build numbers, culture and community was beginning to reap rewards.

"We realised that with the position we were in, we had to start from scratch and build it step-by-step," recalled Saltmarsh.

In 2020, the club decided to strip everything back and build anew.

Getting the women's and men's team together, pushing for everyone to stick around on Thursday nights for players' tea and rearranging tables so that guys and girls sat with each other rather than separately.

These seemingly small details became priorities for Meander Valley as they looked to build a positive atmosphere around the club.

"We have 60-plus people in the clubrooms every Thursday night for meals, having good times, having a laugh, being together, enjoying each other's company and just supporting each other through what's been a lean period for us on-field," Saltmarsh said.

The bond between the women and men's squads was evident on Saturday, with dozens of Sunettes watching the men do what they hadn't in five years, finish the day with the club having three wins from three.

And immediately after the match, senior coach Will Stoltenberg's first reaction was to praise his NTFAW clubmates.

"It stems from the women's program, they're always around, always cheering us on, and the same goes back to them," Stoltenberg said.

"They provide that club culture, it's one club, it isn't two or three separate programs, it's one overall program that we try to uphold.

"We owe a lot of our success to their program and the things that they've been able to succeed in and the fact that they've been able to represent the community in the way we have today."

Saltmarsh said that their mateship goes back to five years ago, when it was the women's team that was battling.

"The women were struggling to get wins on the board and our senior men were training with them, they were voluntarily coming on separate nights, training with the girls, helping them out with their skills and their game-sense," he said.

"Basically everyone around the club was just wrapping their arms around the girls and giving them all the support we could give them, and the girls appreciated that."

But with the long-awaited winning feeling now surging through the men's team, Saltmarsh was fully aware that the job of building the club back up was not done.

"That's not the prize at the end of the journey," he said.

"We're only at the start of where we want to go, we've got that first win out of the way now to take a bit of pressure off everyone and looking forward to getting some more wins on the board.

"I keep saying to our supporters and the people around the club, 'be patient, it will take a while, good things come to those that wait'.

"It will come, but we've all got to be patient and realistic. One win does not make a season or a club, it's just starting, our journey."