A dominant performance by The Opposition from start to finish in their netball grand final game last week cinched the team back-to-back Mixed Indoor Netball titles.
With an advantage of speed, athleticism and height right across the court, The Opposition finished as easy 39-16 winners over Whatever in Tuesday night’s grand final played at the youth centre.
The Opposition’s team captain, Jay Egan, put his A Team on first with gun shooter Kym Sutton in sensational form shooting the bulk of her team’s 12 points in the first quarter.
(She literally had to as her shooting partner in the circle, Andrew Hill, had left his contact lenses at home and so his aim was off on most of his attempts at goal!)
Whatever’s shooting combination of Nathan Prince and Nat Prisk were working well together however with Zach Finn providing towering defence (and Alex Hernando giving plenty of enthusiastic support), The Opposition had the glut of possession for most of the first quarter of the match.
Even when Finn and Sutton swapped ends (and Hill went off), the injection of Chris Gilbert at Goal Defence and Egan to Wing Attack kept The Opposition’s defence and attack strong.
Whatever struggled to contain The Opposition and by half time the margin had stretched to 26-11.
The Opposition continued to switch up positions and player combinations throughout the second half and Whatever also made changes to their player line-up in an effort to counteract their effectiveness.
Moving Prince to defence in the third quarter however proved detrimental for Whatever and while he helped to slow down the rate that The Opposition were scoring, Whatever’s tally suffered with only one goal being added to their score late in the third quarter.
Going into the final quarter, The Opposition was 20 points ahead at 32-12.
Whatever’s scoreboard however began ticking over again in the final quarter when Prince was reinstated to shoot with Prisk.
There was a great match up in the centre court throughout the game with the two Centres, Tanya Gilbert (The Opposition) and Hank Ung (Whatever), very ably directing each of their team’s play.
The pair were both quick movers around the court but Gilbert’s experience as a former Blues netball representative player came to the fore and she outplayed Ung on a number of occasions.
The Opposition finished as 39-16 winners with Gilbert and Ung sharing the Player of the Grand Final accolade.
At the end of season presentations that followed, Nathan Prince, with 19 points, was named the season’s Best & Fairest Male Player and Ella Moratti (The Opposition), with 17 points was the Best & Fairest Female Player.
