By Justin Flynn
Tomorrow’s Geelong & District Netball League A Grade grand final is, in some ways, the match-up that’s been a long time coming.
Winchelsea and East Geelong will do battle at St Albans Reserve with Winch exiting the finals series two years in a row during the business end of the season while the Eagles lost the decider last season. Both sides have been strong without meeting each other in the final game of the season.
For Winchelsea skipper Meg Royal, it will be her first grand final in a decade. She has never played in a winning one and the Blues haven’t tasted success in 12 years.
Winch won its way into the decider with a one-goal second semi-final win against East Geelong although Royal said she was “indifferent” to having last week off.
“It’s kind of that tricky balance between not doing too much but not doing anything at all,” she said.
“So we just met together for a light session on Saturday morning to keep the group together.”
Royal said the Blues were an even team and that the town had gotten behind them.
“I think we’ve got a really good defensive unit as a whole,” she said.
“So not just sort of the back half positions, our full court defensive pressure is something we’ve worked really hard on this year and it’s shown.
“It’s not just the team and not just the A grade, it’s a whole community behind us in a small country town. We’ve got a whole community there with us on Saturday.”
Royal said the Eagles had been the best side they had played in 2024.
“They’ve definitely been our toughest competition, for the last three years, not just this year,” she said.
“I think both sides are looking forward to it.”
For East Geelong captain Stephanie Boyce, the defeat to Werribee Centrals in last year’s grand final still stings.
“It’s pretty flattening, pretty defeating, but most of the girls from that year are in this year’s side again,” she said.
“So we all remember how it felt to lose and we’re all really hungry for it.”
Boyce said losing the semi by one goal might have had a silver lining.
“I think we needed these two games, to be honest,” she said.
“I think coming into the game against Winchelsea everyone was feeling a little bit rattled, the wind as well obviously made a big difference, but not just to us, to them as well.
“I think there were some finals jitters that we sort of had to work out of our system. So going into that game, I think we kind of (thought) ‘you know, we can lose this. This is a possibility’.
“Just getting those jitters out. I think that’s really crucial. And it just sort of snapped us into gear for Saturday’s (preliminary final) game against Bannockburn and I think we came to that (with) guns blazing and ready to fight for that win, which has been really crucial for us just bringing that energy into this week.”
Boyce said it should be a physical game and that both teams have plenty of strengths.
“I think Winchelsea is strong throughout, they’ve got a really strong defensive press bringing the ball out of defence,” she said.
“They put a lot of pressure on those passes down court, so I think our decision making is going to be really crucial on Saturday.
“I think our versatility is a huge one. We’ve got quite a few midcourters that can swing into defence or attack. So I think if something’s not working, we can just make a change and we have confidence in all the girls. So there’s no like really starting seven, it’s just whatever’s working at the time and whoever’s on the bench is always ready to go so I think that’s going to be big for us.”
GDNL GRAND FINALS
All matches at St Albans Reserve.
A Grade: Winchelsea vs East Geelong at 3.15pm
B Grade: Werribee Centrals vs Inverleigh at 2.15pm
C Grade: North Geelong vs Inverleigh at 1.15pm
D Grade: East Geelong vs Inverleigh at 12.15pm
19 & Under: Werribee Centrals vs East Geelong at 11.15am
17 & Under: East Geelong vs Bannockburn at 10.15am
15 & Under: East Geelong vs Bannockburn at 9.15am
13 & Under: Bannockburn vs Inverleigh at 8.15am
