OKFNL ǀ Bats A-graders through to semis, All Blacks bow out to Bonnie Doon

They knew it was going to be a tough game as Whorouly matched them with height and speed going into the Elimination final.

The Bats were fully aware they had to bring their best defensive game, which they did with Chelsea Beavis and Ally Ellis combining well to take many intercepts and rebounds, Whorouly were extremely accurate, so the Bats had to stop the Ball from getting into the ring.

The Bats had the game in their hands by a close margin throughout the game.

The Bats’ mid-courters, Alexandra Davis, Amelia Gall and Sarah Osborne had to take care of the ball when they got it and showed good control of the ball bringing it down the court.

The girls were able to play some of their best netball on the weekend.

The shooters Ella Sheehan and Kylie Relf held the Bats in front by moving the ball around the ring and waiting for easy opportunities to score.

The Bats won by eight goals and head into the semi-final against Tarrawingee, which will be a hard-fought game.

Goorambat 50 def Whorouly 42

Seniors

Goorambat 7-9-51

Bonnie Doon 10-2-62

The seniors came up against the in-form Bonnie Doon in the first elimination final on Saturday at Tarrawingee, which was the boys’ first finals appearance for a number of years.

It was a tough contest in slippery conditions with nothing between the two sides, with the boys lifting the intensity and creating more scoring opportunities in the first, but it was Doon with the accuracy at goal the difference.

Sam Gladstone played a great game down back all day with great support from Perry Knox, with the McCoy brothers in everything around the ground.

The boys should be proud of the game they played, considering the difference between this game and the last the time they met, they got themselves into a winning position leading in the last quarter, with Bonnie Doon taking a nine-point win in what was a great battle.

Best Players: Campbell McCoy, Sam Gladstone, Jamie Dunne, Perry Knox, Ethan Cooke.

Goals: Jamie Dunne 2, Toby Feehan 1, Matt Priest 1, Charlie Campbell 1, Ethan Cooke 1, Tom Ryan 1.

B-Grade

Goorambat came up against Benalla All Blacks in the elimination final and unfortunately didn’t get the result they wanted.

The match was a tough contest with the Bats leading at quarter time by three goals.

With Georgia Thomson, Chelsea Bamford working extremely hard at stopping the Blacks from scoring.

However, the Blacks girls were well disciplined and very accurate, and the Bats weren’t able to stop them. The Blacks girls came back in front at half-time by two goals.

The Bats shooters Jenna Brunner and Chloe Gunn had their work cut out, working the ring extremely hard and doing their best to score over the Blacks’ tough defenders.

Blacks made it extremely hard for the Bats to maintain control of the game and led by four goals going into the last quarter.

The Bats’ mid-courters Molly Doidge, Carli Brennan and Kirsty Eastwood had plenty of speed through the mid-court creating plenty of turnovers that the Bats struggled to turn into a score due to the tough Blacks defenders.

Overall it was a disappointing loss for the Bats, but coaches Amelia Gall, and Sarah Osborne are super proud of how far the girls have come and know the team can only improve for next year.

Goorambat 30 def by All Blacks 39

Benalla All Blacks

Benalla All Blacks’ A-Grade outfit was undone by a blistering Tarrawingee side at the weekend, going down 40 to 35.

The B-graders secured safe passage to the semi-finals, overcoming Goorambat 39-30, while the All Blacks’ under-15s side went down to North Wangaratta in nail-biting fashion, losing out 18-16.