RFNL Netball Grand Finals
By James Matthey
The girls didn’t’t letting the men steal all of the limelight on the Riverina Football & Netball League’s biggest day of the year as they aimed to chase some coveted silverware of their own.
In the highly anticipated A Grade decider, MCUE prevented Narrandera from securing their third consecutive premiership when they defeated the Eagles 45-39.
MCUE took the early lead in the first quarter, displaying all the traits that had secured them this year’s minor premiership and ending the first quarter up 14-9.
Ella Finemore led the way up forward in the goal circle for MCUE throughout the second quarter, with her accurate shooting helping her side to a 26-20 advantage at the conclusion of the term.
They extended their lead out to seven goals at the beginning of the third quarter, and managed to keep that same breathing space for the duration of the term, heading into the final quarter up 37-29.
MCUE never let their lead slip and capped off a terrific 2013 with a well deserved premiership after a final 45-39 win.
The A Grade Reserves Grand Final was eventually dominated by Turvery Park in a commanding 48-32 win over Collingullie.
Midway through the first term, Turvey Park held a four goal lead, and that remained the margin at the end of the quarter.
Three unanswered goals at the start of the second gave Turvey Park the upper hand, before GK Sophie Quirk led a Collingullie revival, bringing the sides back on level terms at 17 goals apiece.
Collingullie looked to have wrestled control of the match when they led by one coming out after half-time, but some excellent full court pressure from Turvey Park ensured that the Demons’ comeback was short lived, surging to a 34-24 lead at three-quarter time.
From there Turvey Park was unstoppable, showing blistering form as they ran away with the match, proving too strong in the end for a tiring Collingullie side who went down by 16 points.
Turvey Park also won out in a tight affair in the B Grade Grand Final, accounting for Leeton-Whitton by 48 goals to 43.
It was almost impossible to separate the two sides from early on in the match, as the first quarter ended slightly to Leeton-Whitton’s advantage with a 10-9 lead.
Leeton-Whitton then pulled away to a four-goal lead midway through the second term, but Turvey Park pegged them back to head into half-time with just one goal between the teams.
The third quarter was where Turvey Park started to assert their dominance, making their way to a 27-24 lead before extending that to 9 goals at the final break.
They managed to hold onto that advantage for the majority of the fourth quarter, and when the final whistle blew they had secured the B Grade premiership by five goals.
Leeton-Whitton had better fortunes in the C Grade decider, overcoming Narrandera on their home turf by 6 goals.
Narrandera were looking the better of the sides for much of the first half, emerging from the half-time break with a 3 goal lead.
The Crows then came out in the third term on fire, reeling the Eagles in and managing to haul themselves to a 21-20 lead early in the quarter, and holding onto that one goal advantage going into the final term.
Some outstanding defence in the fourth quarter saw Leeton-Whitton take a four goal lead, a position from which they never relented, taking out the title in style with a 36-30 victory.
