ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT NETBALL ASSOCIATION
GRAND FINAL REVIEW
By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Ellinbank and District Netball Association’s A Grade grand final produced a fitting conclusion for the season, with Kooweerup edging out a gallant Nar Nar Goon by eight goals on Saturday, 52-44.
The game marked the final clash in Goon blue and white for league superstar Meg Evans (at least for now), who has relocated interstate.
Kooweerup – which went through the home and away season undefeated before dropping its first final to Nar Nar Goon 51-44 – set the tone early and took a 28-20 lead into half-time.
But the Goon refused to relent, thanks to a huge work-rate in the midcourt from the likes of Georgia Keysers and Lexie Riley. They pegged the margin back to a couple of goals on a couple of occasions, but the Demons held their nerve – recording a famous win over their old rivals.
Evans was brilliant for the Goon with 32 goals and her battle with Sheena Clarke was one of the match-ups of the game, while Mariah Bell (30 goals) was just as impressive at the other end for the Demons.
Kooweerup wing attack Laura Christie was recognised for a brilliant performance with player of the game honours.
An emotional Kim Ingram – the Demons’ club president – paid tribute to the club’s premiership-winning A Grade side following the contest.
“It’s just an ode to how awesome these girls are,” she said straight after Saturday’s decider at Cora Lynn.
“They went through the whole season undefeated, dropped that first final, dug to China and back again in the last one and they brought it home today. It’s amazing.”
Ingram also paid credit to Nar Nar Goon, saying: “They’ve been our arch rivals for such a long time. It’s always been a tussle with them, back to our days with Renalle Casey.
“All credit to the Goon – they’re a really tough team to beat. They came out really hard but we just topped them on the day.
“As Meg said, there couldn’t be two better teams playing off today for her final game. I think that’s true too, and this is an awesome result for our club – I’m very proud of the girls, I can tell you that.”
Ingram said the premiership win was a testament to how well the group had gelled in its first season together.
“We had some existing players with a new coach and a few new players in the side, and they’ve gelled on the court and off, and that showed. They’re mates and that sort of thing gets you across the line,” she said.
“They give it their all. We’ve got so much depth and versatility and I think that’s got us to where we are today.”
Ingram praised the work of the Demons’ two bookends – Clarke and Bell – but also inspirational captain Holly Gillespie.
“She is absolutely awesome – she is our heart and soul,” Ingram said.
“We couldn’t do it without her. If she’s not on the court directing play and making all those intercepts, she’s on the sidelines giving it her all with her voice.”
Ingram is now looking forward to the group sticking together under-player coach Kayla Borchert and enjoying more success in the coming years.
For her part, Borchert said there was never any doubt within the group despite their first loss of the year coming earlier in the finals campaign against Nar Nar Goon.
“It was one of those things where it could have gone either way when we played Nar Nar Goon the first time and our expectations at the start of the season were to try and win every game as it came along,” she said.
“Even last week when we were 10 goals down, there was no doubt we were going to get back in the game. We got lucky in that game, but I’m super happy we did.”
Borchert said the side had spoken earlier in grand final week about coming out and trying to set the tone in the contest as early as possible.
“That’s something we’d spoken about a lot during the week – staying composed and dealing with the pressure,” she said.
“The loss was good for us in a way because we’ve played every week now so we’ve had three weeks of people cheering on the sidelines for us. We could’ve dropped our heads but we didn’t and that’s to the girls’ credit.”
Borchert thoroughly enjoyed her battle in the centre with Nar Nar Goon counterpart Georgia Keysers, adding: “She’s a great player – she’s so competitive, and that’s what you want.
“I’ve come from the South East league and you’d have some good battles but every single team here, whether they’re good or not, have good battles happening on court.”
Borchert paid a huge compliment to Evans’ Nar Nar Goon side, labelling it the benchmark for her own side to try and follow – even though it was undefeated for practically the whole season.
“They’re all great players,” Borchert said.
“They’re club people and they know each other’s games inside and out – they’ve grown up playing together. That’s what makes them such a good team – they have that trust already – but when you’ve got Meg, who’s a match-winner in her role, that’s what gives us that respect.
“We could have gone in with the mentality of having won every game this season, but instead we always saw ourselves as the underdog.
“We were chasing them – every single game we were saying to ourselves that if we want to beat Nar Nar Goon or Bunyip we have to play a certain way.”
As for the key to the Demons’ success, Borchert said it was all about playing as one, strong cohesive unit.
“We like to play slow and controlled, and I don’t think we’ve really got any standout players in our team,” she said.
“They’re all A-Grade level, but they’re all just a really good team.
“Everyone goes out there and does their job, and that’s what we focussed on. “Everyone has a role to play. Laura says her job in wing attack is to serve the goallers. How many wing attacks would say that? They’d just be about getting the centre pass. Her self-proclaimed role is to serve the goalers and she’s brilliant at it.”
Finally, Borchert wished Evans luck for her next chapter in life.
“Hopefully it all works out really well for her,” she said.
“I’ve been around Peninsula when she was there and she was always in that higher side – that gun player that you admire. She’s just got that work ethic, and that’s why Nar Nar Goon are always so competitive.
“She demands it out of everyone and that’s what we’re trying to produce at Kooweerup as well.”
In the B Grade grand final, the Warragul Industrials bounced back from a five-goal quarter-time deficit to defeat Poowong 49-43 with Lara Commadeur (25 goals) a clear standout for the Dusties.
Ellinbank cruised to victory in the C Grade decider, capitalising on a 14-4 start to topple the Warragul Industrials 46-25. Both results were particularly impressive given that they capped off undefeated seasons for both the Dusties and Bankers respectively.
Bunyip, meanwhile, finished strongly to beat Ellinbank 31-24 to claim the D Grade flag; Ellinbank survived a huge scare to beat the Dusties 28-26 in the E Grade decider; and Warragul proved too good for Ellinbank in F Grade, winning 29-23 off the back of a stellar performance from Lily Sheehan.
