Well here we are Grand Final Day 2014. Congratulations to Vicki Nolen and our A Grade netballers who are representing our club today. We as a club hope that you can achieve what you all have played and worked hard for this season. All the best with your game today girls.
Firstly congratulations to the 13/Under girls on a great season. Your achievement is a credit to your dedication and the leadership of coach Amanda Reid and her helpers. Your efforts in bringing the margin to such a close one showed that you were giving your best until the final siren. All week the girls were focused and very determined to put out a strong game in the prelim. We had reviewed our game for the week before and had a revised approach to the game.
U/13's - A hard fought game. While an excellent third quarter brought Tocumwal back into contention, time unfortunately ran out with Strathmerton ending up winners. An excellent year which bodes well for these girls in the future.
A Grade - The first quarter we started strongly with good positional play and excellent delivery of the ball. We had great movement in the attack end and Katrina was taking control in the circle ably supported by Leisa. Millie and Elsi were working to the game plan and moved the ball into clear open space in the circle. Meg, Leah and Brooke were working hard in defence and had to keep responding as Deni Rovers continued to bring the ball into attack . We had gained a quick lead in this quarter but Deni Rovers were also very determined and to their credit kept working to gain control of the ball. At the first break we led by one goal.
The second quarter saw the defensive play of each team come to the fore and scoring opportunities were limited for both teams. We were not taking sufficient time to deliver the ball to the best option and we caused a couple of costly turnovers. We kept working at our game but Deni Rovers were able to make better use of the ball and this showed in the half time score, we were down by a goal.
In the half time break we regrouped and set ourselves the challenge to go back on the court and own the third quarter. Jacinta Brunskill came on the goal attack offering fresh legs and variation in the circle. Right from the first whistle the girls delivered and controlled the quarter. Every player was moving strongly and working the ball into good space to allow drives into open space. We scored strongly and this lifted the confidence of all the girls. Brooke and Leah dominated in the circle and really restricted Deni Rovers opportunities to score. Amanda Cardillo came on for Elsi, who was unwell, and worked extremely well in the attacking end. The girls did not let up and kept the pressure on. It was this performance that won the game for us, we won the quarter 17 goals to 5 goals and led 34 goals to 23 goals.
The last quarter was not our quarter, we were fortunate that Deni Rovers were not able to do more with the ball. Whilst we had lots of chances our goals just did not go in. It was good to see the girls kept their heads and just kept working for the full 15 minutes. It was a very low scoring last quarter for both teams with Deni Rovers taking the quarter 7 goals to 5 goals. We were very pleased with the final result of 39 to 30 goals. The girls can be very proud of their determination to win and to work for one another as a team.
We have earned the right for a position in the grand final and now we have the challenge, as does Strathy, of winning the most important game of season 2014. We look forward to a great game which will be full of pressure with both teams extremely keen to have the lead at the final bell. Thanks to all our helpers and supporters you make a difference for us and we hope to see you all today.
