Decade of highs: the best south-west performances on the big stage

There have been breakthrough wins and multiple achievements from some of our region's sporting stars from the start of the decade in 2010 right up to the end of 2019.

The Standard sport journalist SEAN HARDEMAN has compiled 10 of the best national or international achievements from across the decade. Who has made the list?

Moment: Marc Leishman wins first PGA event

Warrnambool's best golfer showed he belonged on the PGA Tour with his first victory from 96 starts on the tour at the 2012 Travelers Championship.

Leishman, 29 at the time, finished the tournament at 14 under the card at Connecticut's TPC River Highlands Golf Club to edge out Americans Charley Hoffman and Bubba Watson by one stroke.

He came from six strokes down on the 54-hole leaders. His final round of 62, which included eight birdies and no bogeys, matched his career best round and was the second-best comeback in the tournament's history.

Leishman endured a nervous wait to see if his 14 under total would be enough for victory. American Roland Thatcher needed to birdie his final hole to force a playoff but couldn't.

"I can't believe it right now," a stunned Leishman said in 2012. "I said to my caddie this morning on the range we would probably have to get to 15 under and that would give us a chance.

"I didn't quite do it, I didn't think 14 under would be good enough. It's a funny game, a real funny game."

The 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year became the second Australian to win the event after Greg Norman did in 1995.

Moment: Jordan Lewis scores a premiership three-peat with Hawthorn

Winning one AFL premiership is difficult enough but winning three-in-a-row didn't seem too hard for Jordan Lewis and his Hawthorn teammates.

Lewis was a star throughout the Hawks' dominance of the middle part of the decade. He played 71 games - 24, 24 and 23 - as Alastair Clarkson led his side to premierships in 2013, '14 and '15.

In the first grand final, the Warrnambool export was one of the Hawks' best as they edged past Fremantle to claim a 15-point victory.

In 2014, Lewis was again one of his Hawthorn's better players as it secured its second straight flag with a 63-point thumping of Sydney.

Lewis was unable to make it a three-peat of best player performances in the 2015 grand final but he did secure his fourth premiership medal and third in a row with a comfortable 46-point win over West Coast.

Moment: Lewy Taylor wins 2014 Rising Star

Lewy Taylor could not have asked for a better finish to his debut season in 2014 than being named the AFL's Rising Star.

Taylor, 19 at the time, became the first south-west draftee to win the award, edging out Western Bulldogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli by the smallest ever margin since it was introduced in 1993 - 39 votes to 38.

The Terang Mortlake product scored his Rising Star nomination in round nine after a 20 disposal game in the Lions' loss to North Melbourne.

He played all 22 of the Lions matches that season, averaged 17 disposals, five contested and 12 uncontested, four marks, two inside 50s and two tackles a game.

Of the 23 nominees for the award, Taylor had the most disposals, the third-most score involvements and fifth-most contested possessions.

Moment: Easton Wood captains Western Bulldogs to drought-breaking flag

There is only two captains in the Western Bulldogs 94-year VFL-AFL history to captain the club to a premiership.

And Camperdown export Easton Wood became one of them in 2016.

Wood, who was stand-in skipper for the injured Bob Murphy, guided the Bulldogs through a fairytale trip which ended in breaking a 62-year premiership drought.

The 2015 All-Australian was left stunned when the siren sounded to catapult himself and his teammates into the Bulldogs' history books.

Wood labelled the 22-point win over Sydney "the biggest moment of my life". He then held the premiership cup aloft to the Bulldogs' faithful with Murphy in what has become one of the sport's iconic memories.

The Bulldogs rose from seventh, beating West Coast at its Subiaco fortress, ending Hawthorn's quest for four straight flags and knocking out Greater Western Sydney on the road to reach their third ever grand final.

Moment: Georgia Wareham wins ICC Twenty20 World Cup

Georgia Wareham completed her meteoric rise on the international cricket stage with a starring performance in Australia's 2018 ICC Twenty20 World Cup victory in the Caribbean.

The Mortlake export, 19 at the time, wasn't bothered by big game nerves as she led Australia's bowling and fielding display to help restrict England to 105 at Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

The leg-spinner took two consecutive wickets in her second over and was on a hat-trick entering her third before finishing with figures of 2-11.

Wareham also collected the wicket of in-form English batter Amy Jones for four with a direct-hit run-out.

She was also calm under pressure to catch a ball skied by English captain Heather Knight (25).

The Australians eventually chased down the English total in 15 overs to reclaim the top prize in the women's short form cricket. It was the fourth time they had claimed the title.

Moment: Nathan Sobey, Melissa Tapper score home Commonwealth Games gold medals

Nathan Sobey and Melissa Tapper did the south-west and their country proud when they claimed a home gold medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Sobey scored 10 points in the Boomers' 87-47 thumping of Canada in the Basketball gold medal match.

The 2016 Warrnambool Seahawks championship winner also reeled in eight rebounds and had three assists in the comfortable victory.

Tapper was the toast of Hamilton after securing her first Commonwealth Games individual gold medal.

The table tennis ace outshone Nigerian opponent Faith Obazuaye in the women's TT6-10 decider, winning 7-11 11-2 11-6 11-3.

The TT6-10 category is for athletes with varying limb impairments. Tapper's medal will sit alongside the team bronze she won at the 2014 Glasgow Games.

Warrnambool hockey player Madi Ratcliffe just missed out on a gold medal after the Hockeyroos were defeated in the gold medal match by New Zealand.

Moment: Kathryn Ross wins first world title

The 2013 World Rowing Championships in Korea is an event Warrnambool Paralympian Kathryn Ross will remember for life.

It was the first time the now four-time world champion stood on the top of the podium to claim a world championships gold medal.

Ross and rowing partner Gavin Bellis outfoxed race favourites France to claim the world title for the Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Scull.

In an earlier heat the two crews held a clear gap on the rest of the field, with a thrilling finish as the last 500 metres saw them battle stroke for stroke before the French edged out the Aussies at the line by less than a second.

In the gold medal rematch Ross and Bellis, Paralympic finalists in London 2012, started well and the race was quickly reduced to a battle between the Australians and Paralympic silver medallists France for the Gold medal, with all other crews battling for bronze.

At the half way mark the Aussie crew just had their bow in front but threw down the challenge to the French crew, a race-winning move which opened up a gap that would never be closed.

The final 200 metres belonged to the Australians as they crossed the line to claim the title of World Champions.

Moment: Ian and Shannon Rentsch become title record holders

The father-and-son combination Ian and Shannon Rentsch have been a dominant force in the Australian Off-Road Racing Championship.

And their dominance received its crown jewel in 2015 after they became the most successful competitors in AORC history.

Their eighth crown moved them one clear of Burrumbeet's Mark Burrows on the list of AORC title winners. Their other wins came in 2004-06, 2008-09 and 2013-15.

They extended their lead for most titles with a ninth win in 2017-18. The records do not stop there for the Warrnambool residents. They also claimed a record breaking sixth title at the 2018 Finke Desert Race.

Four of those wins have come in the past decade while the other two were in 2005-06.

Moment: Josh Hose wins back-to-back wheelchair rugby Paralympics gold

Olympic medals are hard to come by but back-to-back gold medals is another level of difficult.

But for Camperdown export Josh Hose and his Australian Steelers it became reality in 2016 when they claimed back-to-back wheelchair rugby gold medals at the London 2012 and Rio 216 Paralympics.

The Steelers beat Canada in London and the USA, the last team to go back-to-back, in Rio.

The side established itself as one of the great forces in the sport with big wins in between the two summer games.

The Steelers were crowned world champions in 2014 after beating Canada for a second time in two years.

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.