Millicent Saints A-grade netball team march into unprecedented territory: 10 grand final wins in a row
IN the end it was a gritty win for Millicent in Saturday’s Western Border Netball Association A-grade grand final. But it was also one for the record books as the Saints marched to an unprecedented 10th consecutive premiership.
IN the end it was a gritty win for the Millicent Netball Club in Saturday’s Western Border Netball Association A-grade grand final.
But it was also one for the record books as the Saints marched to their 10th consecutive premiership; unprecedented in the WBNA.
This club — which annually loses players such as former Australian Diamond Nat Medhurst to the city and gains others who return to the region — has now been beaten only twice since it lost the 2008 grand final.
With Saints starting as favourites against North Gambier, the game was a defensive one that relied on turnovers for goals.
Millicent felt the pressure going into the fourth quarter when they were only one goal in front after coughing up a seven-goal half-time lead, to eventually win 42-35.
Saints’ captain and centre Lisa Duldig, overcame an ankle injury suffered only weeks earlier, to be the grand final’s best on court. The 34-year-old said her season had been unusually injury-plagued.
“This year my age caught up with me,” she said. “I’ve had a dicky knee all season that I’ve had to try and manage and apart from that my back has started to play up in the last couple of months and during our first final I did my ankle right before half time and had to come off and couldn’t play the rest of the game.”
Duldig said Norths lost their regular goal shooter for the grand final, which added an element of unknown for the reigning premiers.
“We knew the level was going to go up and it really showed on court: they stopped us from having our normal flow on court, we made errors; it was a hard game because we didn’t have consistency on either side,” she said.
“We got up by a bit and then they pegged us back and in the end it came down to who could utilise the turnovers.”
Millicent goal shooter Donna Denton, 41, who has played in every single one of those 10 consecutive premierships, described the game as “very up and down”.
“We started well, but our third quarter was probably our worst quarter for the whole year,” she said. “Luckily for us, our last quarter was a good team effort.”
Denton put the club’s decade-long premiership success down to its ability to keep a good mixture of youth and experienced players.
And while the netballers have been competition leaders for most of this century, Millicent’s A-grade footballers hadn’t tasted success for 34 years. But that changed on the weekend when they broke the club’s footy drought, when they defeated East Gambier by two points at McDonald Park.
Duldig said the football win made their own victory all the more sweet. “Yes, it’s an amazing effort from us, but to have the boys win too and to break the club’s drought of 34 years and the build up to this one inside the club has been really good,” she said.
WBNA secretary Di Gould said the success of the Saints had been good for the entire competition.
“It might look lopsided on paper, but it’s improved our association because it’s set a benchmark higher than ever before,” she said.
“All the other teams work harder. But for now, the dynasty doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.”