Renegades rising: How 'Soph and Helmo' rebuilt their team

It was after the Melbourne Renegades were soundly beaten by Brisbane Heat in their second game of WBBL|10 that Sophie Molineux realised things were going to be different this season.

Yes, you read that correctly, but bear with us.

The Renegades had found themselves 0-2 in a shortened 10-game season, coming off a horror 2023 campaign that yielded just two wins.

After an off-season recruitment spree hopes had been high for an improved season, but there they were at Allan Border Field on day four of the tournament with the pressure, in the eyes of those on the outside, at least, already on.

"We lost our first game to Sydney Sixers at Adelaide Oval and after that, we were pretty flat actually, because we thought we could have won that," Molineux reflected on The Surge podcast this week as the Renegades prepared to host Sunday's WBBL final.

"Then we got to Brisbane straight after that and got thumped, and we just didn't play anywhere near our best.

"But there were little signs there that we held on to.

"Georgia Wareham and I actually sat down after that game in the rooms and said, ‘It just feels different this year’.

"I think previously, if we had a dropped couple of games at the start, we'd be like, 'Oh, here we go again, let's try and get a high draft pick next year and try again'.

"But this year it just felt different."

That weekend, the Renegades headed home to Melbourne for back-to-back matches against Perth Scorchers and two-time reigning champions Adelaide Strikers – two incredibly tough match-ups for a side that could not afford to end up 0-4.

It was in those twin games at Junction Oval that proved Molineux’s gut feel was correct.

The Renegades skipper was the key architect of both wins, first taking 4-17 in a six-wicket victory over the Scorchers, then, a day later when the club was 5-52 chasing the Strikers’ 157, she hammered a 32-ball 64 as the ‘Gades got home on the final ball.  

This was where the off-season signing spree, which saw the club add Nicole Faltum, Milly Illingworth, Naomi Stalenberg and draftees Alice Capsey and Deandra Dottin, came into play.

"I think with the personnel that we were able to get in, we had some really fresh faces and you could just feel like there was no battle scars in there," Molineux said.

"With the assistance of someone like Helmo (coach Simon Helmot), who's always up and about, I think that probably really kicked into gear and served its purpose when we were zero and two.

"We had two games back-to-back (in Melbourne), and we just thought, we might as well start now. And we did."

From there, the momentum built. There was the record run chase of 186 against the Strikers at Karen Rolton Oval where West Indies imports Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin shared in an unbeaten 86-run stand.

There were two Melbourne Derby wins, when the Renegades’ last win over the Stars had come in 2021. The second of those, at the MCG, was particularly significant, as the 'Gades recovered from 5-94 to post a match-winning 170, thanks for Faltum's career-high 66no.

The club was 2-3 at the midway mark of their season but ended on top of the table with a 7-3 record after winning their final five matches – and the right to host their first ever WBBL final at the MCG.

*** 

The Renegades’ fortunes had been an up-and-down affair since Helmot was elevated from assistant to head coach in 2021.

His first campaign in WBBL|07 saw a rampant Harmanpreet Kaur take the tournament by storm, and the Renegades finish second on the table despite having to spend the entire season on the road due to border closures.

But their momentum petered out late, and they were dumped from the finals by third-ranked Brisbane Heat in a ‘home’ Challenger final at Adelaide Oval.

A disappointing WBBL|08 followed, the Renegades finishing seventh on the table in a year where Georgia Wareham and Tayla Vlaeminck missed through injury, and Molineux ruptured her ACL during the Melbourne derby.

Then came the nadir of WBBL|09. With Molineux still rehabbing her knee, the ‘Gades won two of 14 matches and finished a distant last.

In different circumstances, that sort of a season would result in a change in leadership.

But the Renegades backed in Helmot, and together with Molineux and general manager James Rosengarten, they set about addressing their shortcomings.

"Looking over the last couple of years, we were a little bit skinny on runs," Molineux said.  

"Our game plan last year was to scrap with the bat and win our games with the ball and just with the way the T20 cricket's going, you can't win tournaments like that.

"It helped that the start there we re-signed Tay Vlaeminck, thinking that we were going to get four overs out of her, and Milly Illingworth come across (from the Stars), so that covered the bowling.

"So, we were able to go hard at international batters. We retained Hayley, and then got Alice Capsey to top that up."

The ‘Gades offered an opportunity to former Hurricane Stalenberg, and brought in former Star Faltum, who helped address the devastating hole left behind the stumps when Josie Dooley suffered a serious medical incident while on an off-season holiday, while WBBL|09 replacement player Emma de Broughe was locked in on a full contract.

It was a no brainer to secure Windies captain Matthews on the pre-signing mechanism ahead of the draft, but it was the decision to select her national teammate Deandra Dottin that raised eyebrows of those outside the club.

Dottin had only recently come out of two years of international retirement, and had not played a professional match at any level in close to 12 months.

"That was a bit of a curve ball, and I suppose it was a risk, just because Deandra hadn't played a whole lot of cricket in the last two or three years," Molineux said.

"But I think we knew deep down what she was going to bring, and she's been one of the best things that we've picked up, and she's contributed so much to the group on the field, but more so off the field.

"On the back of that, we sat down and worked out we've got a core group of domestic girls here, Courtney Webb, Georgia Wareham, Emma de Broughe, Nicole Faltum, that are probably hitting that age now where they've got a bit of experience under their belt.

"We're not young anymore … it was time for us to be able to win games off our own bats, not just buy that in with internationals."

Then, the Renegades needed to work out how to get the best out of their squad.

Luring Illingworth across from the Stars became an ever better decision when Tayla Vlaeminck was ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury.

But the biggest question mark was around who should open the batting alongside Matthews.

The T20 Spring Challenge became an audition process, with five different players getting their chance to nail down top spot.

That went to Courtney Webb, who has seized her new role with both hands.

"Webby just put her hand up and said I want to crack at it and Helmo loves that stuff," Molineux said.

"Wade Seccombe came in as our batting coach ... and it was just really clear from all the coaches, that we just want girls to be brave and attack the game and back their own ability, and there'll be no consequences no matter what happens.

"The coaches have been really strong with that and stuck by that."

***

That brought the Renegades to the start of WBBL|10.

The first shortened season has provided its fair share of shocks: the Strikers were the first team to be eliminated from the running for finals, and the Sixers, somehow, managed to finish outside the top four for the fifth time in six seasons despite adding Amelia Kerr and Sophie Ecclestone to an already stacked list.

The Stars, with their best list since WBBL|06, finished last, and few would have foreseen the Renegades hosting the final at the MCG based on their struggles a year earlier.

The clever signings and tactical tweaks have played a significant role in the club's resurgence, but there is also that certain je ne sais quoi that comes with being a Renegade (or Renebabe, as some players prefer).

"We've probably been known over the years that we enjoy ourselves, the Renegades," Molineux said.

"What Helmo brings to a team, it's pretty hard to articulate.

"His energy is just contagious. He brings chaos to a group, but it's actually controlled chaos, and I think that actually brings out a lot of people's ability to withstand pressure.

"And he just backs people in ... it always helps when you win games and everything, but even at the start of the season, when we dropped the first couple you could see that it was a bit different this year, because everyone did just stay level, and we did still enjoy each other's company, and valued being in each other's space."

The influence of Helmot and Molineux cannot be understated.

Molineux is one of the strongest leaders in the country and is incredibly popular with her teammates, as is Helmot, who has a knack of quickly endearing himself to anyone he meets.

"When Helmo speaks, he has everyone in the room just hanging off their chair, just waiting for his next words," Molineux said.

"He's got this amazing ability to come up with the right words at the right time, because he cares so much for each individual in that room, and he does so much for that club.

"He speaks with real emotion ... we could all run through a brick wall after that."

Then there has been the development of Molineux as a player and captain, in what has been her first full season, injury free, since 2021.

She first took over as leader in that WBBL|07 season and was the youngest full-time skipper in the league’s history at the time.

Looking back, the 26-year-old can admit she had taken on far too much in those early days, to the detriment of her own game and wellbeing.

"The first couple of years, I certainly didn't have that balance right," she said.

"My personality is to probably go over the top in terms of making sure everyone's okay, and that I probably slipped down a bit of a slide there.

"I just thought that's what you need to do to be captain ... you need to make sure everyone is A-okay, every day.

"I used to have a checklist of all our players, and I'd go down it every night and it'd either be a tick or a cross, if I needed to catch up with them, or if they're okay ... it just got to a point there was probably not sustainable, but I wouldn't have changed any that.

"But it was just a learning curve for me, and probably the expense of that was my performances, and I wasn't able to stay out on the park.

"Fast forward a couple of years, I think I am finding that balance a little bit more in terms of being a leader, but that it's also just as important to be able to perform and lead with actions out in the ground – and to actually be out on the ground (fit), not sitting in the stands."

The Renegades have had a long week between games to sit and ponder Sunday’s final at the MCG.

They had a couple of days off following their last regular season game, then hit the training track as they watched the Knockout and Challenger finals they out.

Molineux said she and Wareham had implored their teammates to soak up every moment of the week, rather than allowing the occasion get the better of them.

"I just hope that we don't go away from what we've been doing in terms of how we want to play the game, because we know it's going to be good enough to beat anyone," Molineux said.

"We've taken so much away from just being so focused on what we want to do, and that's being aggressive, and that's being exciting, and it's really enjoyable when you do it.

"Outcome aside, if we can walk off the ground knowing that we haven't changed our style on the biggest day, then I think we'd be really happy."

WBBL|10 Finals

The Knockout: Sydney Thunder beat Hobart Hurricanes by six wickets

The Challenger: Brisbane Heat beat Sydney Thunder by nine wickets

The Final: Melbourne Renegades v Brisbane Heat | MCG | Sunday, December 1 at 1.20pm AEDT

Grab your tickets or tune in on the Seven Network, 7Plus, Fox Cricket, Kayo or ABC and SEN radio

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