Matches for the first week of the 2019 Narrabri Netball Association winter season finals are now set in stone following Saturday’s games.
In the 14th and final round of the season teams cemented their final ladder positions ahead of the three-week finals series which begins this Saturday and finishes on grand final day on Saturday, September 21.
In the A-grade competition there was an extraordinary finish.
Three teams went into the final round locked on 20 points, two of which played against each other.
Those two were Narrabri Pharmacy Flamingos and Blue Diamonds, which went into the final round ranked first and third respectively.
The two sides played out a 42-all draw which gifted Fever the minor premiership.
Fever did not play on Saturday as it was scheduled to play Tatts Hotel which had already forfeited the season weeks ago.
That meant that the Flamingos finished second on points per centage ahead of Blue Diamonds.
Finishing one point behind those two teams in fourth position was NWC which scored a comfortable win against Not So Swift in round 14.
Not So Swift did not qualify for the finals due to forfeiting too many times this season.
In the other round 14 A-grade match the RSL Babes downed the Golfie Grubs 40-23.
Those two teams finished fifth and sixth respectively.
In the B-grade competition Shazza’s Sharks had already secured first spot on the ladder before its round 14 match, but it was playing to make it an undefeated season.
It managed to achieve that with a forfeit victory against Vicious Delicious to finish the season with a maximum 14 wins and 28 points.
Second-placed Wee Waa Lightning went down 16-12 against fifth-placed Waisted Potential, while third-placed Wee Waa Flames and fourth-placed Electric Chicks both scored big wins, downing seventh-placed Chickies 45-6 and last-placed Flaming Babies 50-6 respectively.
In the under-11-13 competition Wee Waa side Namoi Valley Flames finished its season on a high.
The competition’s first placed side took on the lowest-ranked team Silver Ferns and scored an 18-5 victory.
The second and third-placed teams in that competition were both Wee Waa sides.
Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds finished second after defeating sixth-placed Diamonds 20-3 in the 13th and final round, while C and W Firebirds placed third.
The Firebirds did not finish their season with a win, downed 14-6 by fourth-placed side Lightning.
In the under-9/10 competition the top-ranked side was also a Wee Waa-based team.
That was the Valley Vixens which finished the season with a 13-9 win against the fifth-placed Opals.
Second-placed Saphires took on third-placed Rubies in a battle for second.
Saphires won that won 17-15 to earn the day off in week one of the finals.
In the other under-9/10 match sixth-placed WWBC Swifts outscored last-placed Emeralds 4-1.
Fourth-placed Namoi Giants had the bye.
As reported in last Tuesday’s Courier, this year there is an added bonus for the two teams that finish in a top-two spot.
All four finals series will be six-team series played across three weeks, and the teams ranked first and second on the ladder will have a break in the first week when the elimination semi-finals are played.
Those matches will see third take on sixth and fourth play fifth.
In week two of the finals series the teams ranked first and second will play the winners of the week one matches.
The winners of those week two games will qualify for their respective grand finals to be played on Saturday, September 21.
See page 19 for Saturday’s fixtures for week one of the NNA winter season finals series.
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