Tourist Tornados claim top spot on NNA’s A-grade competition ladder at season’s halfway mark

First place on the ladder means so much more in 2021, with Narrabri Netball Association cutting its finals series for the A-grade, B-grade and under-11-13 competitions from three weeks to two and six teams to three for the current campaign after opting to alter the format used in 2019.

There was no netball played in 2020, but this year will see the minor premiers of the aforementioned divisions earn automatic grand final qualification.

Previously, they would have advanced to the preliminary finals alongside the second-placed teams where they both would have taken on their competitions’ respective semi-final winners.

But there will only be one preliminary final in each division this year which will be contested by the teams which finish second and third on the three ladders.

The winners of the preliminary finals will then meet the minor premiers on Saturday, September 11, in the 2021 grand finals.

That change made Saturday’s A-grade top-of-the-table clash between Tourist Tornados and Wee Waa Flames all the more important.

The two sides went into the round seven match locked on 12 points each having both won all six of their respective fixtures in 2021.

It was the Narrabri team that extended its record to 7-0 to move to 14 competition points with a 34-goal win against its Wee Waa rivals as a 54-20 victory put the Tornados in the box seat ahead of the run home to the finals.

Third-placed Fever scored its fifth win of the season by outscoring the winless and last-placed Goal Diggers 64-22.

Fever is now on 10 competition points, just one win back from the second-placed Wee Waa Flames.

Immediately behind Fever now are Blue Diamonds which jumped from sixth to fourth after they won via forfeit in round seven against P and P.

P and P dropped from fourth to fifth as a result of their loss, while round seven winners Pharmacy Flamingos fell from fifth to sixth despite beating Toros 32-24.

Blue Diamonds, P and P and the Flamingos are all on six points following three wins and four losses each.

Toros’ loss was its sixth of the season. It has accumulated two points across the first half of the campaign following one win which it scored via a forfeit.

Toros’ finals hopes would be significantly diminished should the side lose its round eight match when the competition resumes on Saturday, July 17, following the school holiday break. It takes on Fever in a match where a loss would see it finish five games back from the top three with just six rounds remaining.

The other round eight A-grade fixtures will see Wee Waa Flames take on Blue Diamonds, Tourist Tornados challenge Pharmacy Flamingos and Goal Diggers go searching for their first win when they meet P and P.

Saturday’s round seven B-grade games were won by Goss Gals, Golfie Grubs and Vicious Delicious.

Ladder leaders Goss Gals outscored Don’t Stop Ball-ieving 56-19, second-placed Golfie Grubs downed Thunderbirds 32-13 and Vicious Delicious defeated The Chickies 24-14.

Vicious Delicious leapfrogged Don’t Stop Ball-ieving from fourth to third, while the only ladder change saw Big Blues, which had the round seven bye, move from sixth to fifth as they overtook Thunderbirds.

In the under-11-13 competition, Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds beat Lightning 25-20 and Giants edged out Swifts 18-16 while C and W Firebirds sat out with the bye.

Under-9/10 competition ladder leaders Valley Vixens stretched their winning start to the season to seven consecutive matches with a 16-1 win against Emeralds and the other match in that division was won by Diamonds which beat Sapphires 4-0.

Both Net Set matches were decided by three goals as Blue downed Green 3-0 and Pink defeated Red 4-1.