Their day didn’t start or end very well at the championships with the under 13’s losing their first game and their last game to deny them a spot on finals day in Melbourne on the 20^th June. The court play was not as consistent as it had been at previous tournaments however the girls managed to win 6 of their 9 games. In every game there were periods where it was very messy and many mistakes were made due to the pressure applied. Sunraysia defeated the girls in the semi as they converted our turnovers very accurately into goals which proved very costly. Sunraysia then went onto win the grand final. Lauren Paynter, Stephanie Runciman and Jess Brumby were among the better players at different times over the day. The girls were disappointed, but at the end of the day I think they all should benefit from their League experience.

Under 15’s – Coach Roey Bice

The Central Murray Netball Under 15’s played eight games prior to finals.  They started the day off  against the Bendigo team of Golden City – and Central Murray jumped them right from the start and won it comfortably 10 -6. This game appeared to give the team the confidence they required to continue to play well all day.  They comfortably won six out of seven remaining games, going down to Horsham by only 3.

Central Murray ended up 2^nd on the ladder and played Wimmera in a cross over final.  They had beaten Wimmera earlier in the day by 2 goals.  The team started off very slow, a couple of early unsuccessful attempts at goal seem to unsettle them.  However, some steady and sure centre court play enabled CMNL to remain with Wimmera and at half time the score was level.   The girls were very fluent and sure in the second half and Tayla Stanley was capitalizing on it in the ring –eventually winning the semi final by two goals.

This set up a Grand Final with Horsham who had beaten CMNL earlier in the day by three goals. The girls were well and truly beaten in the grand final, but by that stage they knew they were heading to State Championships win, lose or draw the grand final. All players contributed to the teams success but Claudia Powell, Madeline Jeans, Tayla Stanley and Tess Denham were very consistent all day.

17Under’s – Coach Libby Brecevic

The Under 17's unfortunately did not make finals having won three of their seven games. They played well as a team and fought hard throughout the day. The girls displayed some wonderful skills and implemented into their game what they had learnt at trainings. Georgie Jeans stepped up playing both defence and goals, after Katelyn Wright finished two games early with a knee injury. Emelia Bett and Katie Hepburn were also a good combination in goals. Hayley Campbell and Georgia McCallum run hard all day in the centre and Amy Zanker was instrumental in Wing Defence.

Photos Courtesy of The Gaurdian Newspaper (Swan Hill)