What a great way to start off the Fresha Finals Campaign for Season 2022 last weekend. It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since our last. With perfect weather conditions, crowds of spectators out and about, some great tightly contested netball matches across all grades and some fiercely contested footy games including extra time in the Senior Football, it doesn’t get much better than that.
A Cap of Last Week’s Results
In the Open Netball on Saturday at Koroit, Cobden came to play and proved they are a force to be reckoned with outclassing the undermanned Saints by 15 goals. Molly Hutt was awarded the Miss Kit Voucher for her best on court performance. At Port Fairy on Sunday the North Warrnambool Eagles took on the Blues. In a closely contested match neither team could get an early break. With only a 2 goal margin at the last break, the Eagles found a way late in the last quarter when Maddison Vardy took some match winning intercepts and helped her side to a 6 goal win. Maddie was awarded the Miss Kit Voucher for being best on court.
Across all grades of netball last weekend there were some highly skilled contests played out. With the 16 matches played across 2 days 12 of the games were won by 7 goals or less. These type of results make for some very exciting netball and create a great spectacle for the crowd
Milestone Games
This week we Congratulate Stacey Dwyer from the Port Fairy Football Netball Club who will play her 200th Senior game on Saturday at South Warrnambool.. Stacey was to celebrate this milestone game on the last home and away round before being struck down with COVID so we wish her well in her game this weekend.
Stacey started her netball career with Port Fairy in 2010. She is a 3 time Premiership player in Division 2 (2013, 2014 and 2016). She has also coached Premiership Teams in the 15/U and Div 2 Grades. Stacey has won numerous Club Best and Fairest awards, as well as Runner up Best and Fairest for the HFN League in 2014 for Div 2 and in 2019 for Div 3. Stacey is a valuable member for the Port Fairy FNC and has taken on many roles over the past 12 seasons including Umpire, Umpire mentor, Coach, Assistant Coach and Umpire Coordinator. Stacey is a true legend of our game and this is a wonderful effort. Well done Stacey.
Premiers and Champions
There are three teams across the eight grades who are in contention for a Premiers and Champions status in 2022. The 17/U Koroit Saints have not lost a game all season, the Koroit 15/U Team have won 17 games and drawn one and the Port Fairy Division 3 team have won 15 of their 18 games and have drawn the remaining 3. A Premiers and Champions Title is extremely hard to come by so I will watch with interest to see how these teams fare in the next 3 weeks. Watch this space.
My predictions for this Week.
In the second Semi Final on Saturday South Warrnambool take on Cobden in what will be a highly skilled and closely contested match. When they last met Cobden won narrowly and I expect this game to be close as well. Both teams boast strong defence lines and depth in their attacking circle. Cobden’s centre court has versatility and depth and I think they have the advantage over the Roosters in this area. Cobden for me in a close game.
In the first Semi Final being played at Cobden on Sunday, Koroit will play the North Warrnambool Eagles. This will be another great contest. Last time they met North won by 12 but I expect both teams will have a different line up this time around. As has been the case most of the season, both teams are capable of winning but it will come down to who shoots more accurately and who will make less mistakes. If the mermaids need the third game on Sunday this will work in the Eagles favour but they may struggle to get over the line against Koroit with a full lineup.
In other grades on the weekend I think the winners will be:-
13/U – Koroit and Cobden; 15/U – Koroit and Cobden; 17/U Reserves – South Warrnambool and Camperdown; 17/U – Koroit and Camperdown; Div 3 – Port Fairy and Hamilton Kangaroos; Div 2 – Port Fairy and Cobden; and Div 1 – Koroit and Portland.
Good Luck to all Teams participating in Finals this weekend.
