Orbost Snowy Rovers are through to the East Gippsland “A” grade netball grand final after upsetting powerhouse, Wy Yung, last Saturday at the Lindenow Recreation Reserve in the preliminary final.
The Tigers finished second on the ladder after the home and away season, entitling them to pre-game favouritism, but the Blues juggernaut has gained momentum in the past few weeks after sneaking into the finals on percentage.
The first quarter was a free-flowing contest with nothing separating the sides as they looked for any early advantage.
The dynamic duo in defence, Jewel Catlin and Jorja Savory, worked hard and defended grimly, creating some valuable turnovers.
Wy Yung began the second term with a one-goal advantage, but it was short-lived as the Blues lifted the tempo, Hollie Fuhrmann, Lauren Treacy and Courtney Wade creating plenty of opportunities for Karina Robinson (32 goals) and Blues coach, Hayley Boxall.
By half time Orbost Snowy Rovers had opened up a five-goal lead with the Tigers struggling to stay in the match, having to adapt to playing without key defender, Alison Lipski, who was ruled out due to injury on Thursday.
Playing with new found confidence, Orbost again applied maximum pressure early in the third term with a place in the grand final getting closer and closer with every goal.
Catlin and Savory continued to harass the Tiger shooters, as Tiger midcourt errors grew, Boxall and Robinson doing the rest as the lead grew to 11 by three quarter time.
Spurred on by a large contingent of supporters, Orbost continued to go from strength-to-strength, playing the game right out to win impressively by 16 goals in a great hit-out for this week’s grand final against a red hot Lucknow, losers of just one game in 2024.
Boxall was delighted with the victory and excited for what grand final day might bring.
“We have really hit our straps in the last two weeks after a great tussle with Lucknow in the final round, when we took the game right up to them,” Boxall said.
Acknowledging the Magpies are a tough task to beat, Boxall will hit the court quietly confident.
“If we can get it right on the day, we can win, we pushed them for three quarters in the final round and lapsed in the final quarter. If we play four intense pressure quarters, it will be a great contest and hopefully we come out on top,” Boxall said.
