SWJFL finals a success

By James Matthey

Some of the best young sporting talent on offer in the Riverina was on show last weekend when the South West Junior Football Netball League (SWJFNL) held its grand finals.

Budding AFL and netball players from the Under-11s, Under-13s and Under-15s converged on Temora on Sunday August 25 to take part in some fiercely contested deciders as they tried to secure some silverware for their clubs.

There was a huge amount of support on the day, with all eight clubs from the region represented in some capacity, culminating in one of the most successful seasons in recent memory for the SWJFNL.

AFL Riverina Football Operations Coordinator, Tom Walker, said it was great to see such an impressive turnout to mark the occasion.

“It shows the great support, we had a huge crowd and a record gate so it shows that there’s interest there too.

“The fact that we have both football and netball is the lifeblood of the South West Juniors, it’s a really family orientated league and having both the girls and the boys out there on game day is massive.

“It’s a huge advantage for the league and if you saw the crowd it just vindicates everything we’ve been trying to do with the league.”

On the football field, a best-on-ground performance from Harrison Grintell inspired his Narrandera Under-11s side to victory over GGGM, while Leeton-Whitton overcame Griffith Swans in the Under-13s decider thanks to six goals from Angus Morschel and a dominant performance from Nathan Tang.

Narrandera were unable to secure their second premiership of the day in the Under-15s as they ran into a red-hot Northern Jets outfit, who’s 22-point win was sparked by an incredible 10-goal haul from Jack Harper.

In the netball, Abby Favell led the Griffith Swans Under-11s to a tight four-goal win over the Griffith Giants, while the Northern Jets emerged triumphant in the Under-13s after they accounted for Narrandera on the back of a best-on-court display from Sharnie McLean.

In the Under-15s, Temora claimed their first premiership of the day when they defeated Coleambally on their home court, with Georgina Grant voted as the match’s best player.

Such is the growing popularity of netball in the region, there is talk of expanding the competition to accommodate increasing numbers of participants.

SWJFNL President, Troy Evans, said extra age groups might have to be added to ensure that girls continue to have the opportunity to display their skills on the court.

“The netball’s growing really quickly, we’re talking about seeing if we can put more age groups in netball.

“At the moment we’ve got 11s, 13s and 15s, a lot of teams had too many players, so we’re going to sit down and see if we can add a 12s and a 14s side to keep the girls playing netball.

Evans also said that it was great to see the junior competition in such great shape because it had a flow-on effect towards strengthening the senior competitions.

“The comp’s going really strong at the moment.

“It’s really good because it goes through to the seniors too.

“Kids grow up playing together in the same age groups and then they go through to the senior club too so it’s really good.”

A total gate of $3520 was raised on the day, taking the final total raised throughout this year’s finals series to just over $8000.