PREMIERSHIPS always come up in career highlights, but what if you haven't won one?
Dennington's Lana Barling will line up for her 200th senior game on Sunday. After all those matches, she is yet to soak up the spoils of a flag. The goaler is a three-time club best-and-fairest winner and 2005 league best-and-fairest runner-up. Barling nominated playing in three grand finals as a standout. "They're pretty big but I'm getting older so I'd really like to win one before I finish," Barling said. The 34-year-old arrived at the club in 1997 as it was where her husband Jason Barling, who was then her boyfriend, played. She predicted she would stick around for a while. "I've probably got a few years left in me. They might not be in A grade though," she said. Dogs coach Sara Morrison said: "We wouldn't have made finals without her in the last few years." "She's fairly laid back but she's very reliable and always gives 110 per cent."
Barling's double century will come on Sunday against South Rovers which is yet to drop a match this season while the Dogs have lost two games in a row after their round one victory. "We really need to win this weekend. It's as simple as that," Morrison said. "We need to win for a bit of morale. We've only got three people who played last year so we're still trying to put it all together." The coach noted the team had trained well but it hadn't carried that through to matches."We're good in patches," she said. "The competition's that strong though that you can't win games playing two and a half or three quarters. "We need to string together four quarters."
The Dogs have two more milestones on Sunday, with A reserve mid-courter Josie Bolden and reserves footballer Clayton Swan both playing their 150th game. The club had two milestones in round one, with Mark Phillips reaching his 250th game while Morrison racked up 100.