Ports Netball Club ends seven-year win drought in Eastern Eyre Netball Association

The monkey is off the back for a rejuvenated local SA netball club after it ended one of the state’s longest ever win droughts over the weekend.

An SA country netball club has ended one of the state’s longest ever win droughts, claiming its first A Grade victory since 2017.

Eastern Eyre Netball Association club Ports produced a dazzling second half display on Saturday to top Cowell 48-30 and achieve its first win since the 2017 season.

Leading by just two goals at the main break, the Magpies produced a strong second half behind the play of Lani and Macy Hartwig ahead of the ball as well as their midcourters to take out a convincing 18-goal win.

“It was pretty amazing,” coach Meagan Llewelyn said.

“We probably should’ve won a couple games last season and we knew we were building towards a win.

Ports celebrates its first win since 2017. Picture: Ports Football-Netball Club

“We had a really good hitout in round one against Central Eyre and thought we’d be a strong chance on the weekend.

“The result wasn’t a massive surprise but it was euphoric and a bit of a relief to get the monkey off the back and move forward.”

With the club’s football side also grabbing a solid win over Cowell on the day, both teams relished the chance to celebrate together for the first time in seven years.

“The celebrations were pretty big,” Llewelyn said.

“We went in with the boys and all sung the club song together and then went back to our local hotel.

“It was a big night.”

The Magpies produced a brilliant second half display to claim the win. Picture: Ports Football-Netball Club

While Ports has been a force in Eastern Eyre football in recent seasons, the netball side has struggled to maintain consistency with personnel and achieve results on the court.

In her second year as coach of the Magpies, Llewelyn said her side was well-rounded and could compete in the near future.

“The whole court was magnificent on the weekend and I think our team is going to be that consistent across the court moving forward.

“Not winning since 2017, we could have been pretty down on ourselves but we’ve stayed positive, built a solid team and have remained competitive – no one has really played us and thought it was easy.

“We’re confident we can have a go at the rest of the teams in the competition now and there’s a lot of buzz.

“We don’t have any major goals right now but we just want to try and win each week and improve our play in general.”

The side will take on league leader Eastern Ranges this weekend.