Tornadoes spin into the long weekend on top of the ladder

Tourist Tornadoes continued their run at the top of the Narrabri Netball Association 2023 winter competition A-grade ladder on Saturday as they continued their undefeated start to the season at the Bev Burrows courts.

The defending champions took on The Flames in round five and secured a dominant 40-13 victory.
The win was their fourth in a row to start the season to go with their round two bye. The side has outscored its opponents a combined 173-72 across its matches to boast an extraordinary for and against difference of 101.

The Tourist Tornadoes are the only unbeaten team after five rounds and they finished locked on eight points alongside Fever.

Second-placed Fever, which was the Tornadoes’ grand final opponents in 2022, has also won four games in 2023 but has one loss to its name after it forfeited in round four.

Yet to lose a game on the court so far this season, the side continued that run on Saturday when it outscored Hail Mary’s 35-28.

The other A-grade match was played between All Nets and the Pharmacy Flamingos, and it was one that would see the winner finish in third place and the loser end up in sixth.

It was All Nets that got the job done as they edged out the Flamingos 40-37 in the highest-scoring match of the round.

All Nets finished the round locked on four competition points alongside fourth-placed team The Flames and fifth-placed team Fever 2.0, which had the round five bye, but is ranked highest of those three as it boasts a superior for and against difference.

The Flamingos are in sixth place on two points, and Hail Mary’s are last with zero points.

In the B-grade division on Saturday, the final remaining undefeated run was broken when top-ranked team Hairy GOATS went down for the first time this season.

They were outscored 33-30 in a tight contest by the Golfie Grubs, which finished the round in second place.

The Grubs are yet to lose a game on-court in 2023 but they forfeited a match earlier in the season.

Those sides have both accumulated eight points following four wins and a loss each, as has third-placed side Hot Shots, which scored a 22-10 victory against Wilga Warriors on Saturday.

The fourth and fifth-placed teams are both close behind the top three on six points after they both scored round five victories on Saturday.

Baxter Babes downed Wrecking Ballers 42-13 to finish the round in fourth, just above the fifth-ranked Firebirds, which beat Blue Diamonds 32-22.

The Wilga Warriors and Wrecking Ballers are both on two points in sixth and seventh place, respectively, and Blue Diamonds are in last place with zero points.

The junior comp games were played earlier in the day on Saturday, and in the under-11/12 competition, the round five games wrapped up the first third of the campaign.

All sides play each other three times across a 15-round regular season in that division and they have currently all played against one another once.

Three teams lead the way on six points after five weeks of play.

The Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds are the highest-ranked of the three after they won 19-4 against Swifts in round five, and fellow Wee Waa side C and W Firebirds are second following their bye in round five, having won three of their four games to start the season.

Third-placed Giants joined those two teams on six points with a 14-5 victory against Lightning on Saturday.

The Swifts are in fourth place on two points and Lightning are fifth on zero points.

The fourth round of the under-9/10 competition saw Rubies outscore Sapphires 13-2 and Diamonds edge out Valley Vixens 1-0.

Narrabri Netball Association’s 2023 season will break this weekend for the June long weekend and will resume on Saturday, June 17 with round six of the A-grade, B-grade and under-11/12 competitions and round five of the under-9/10 competition.

The association’s under-15s and 17s rep teams will travel to Newcastle to compete in the 2023 Netball NSW Senior State Titles from Saturday, June 10, to Monday, June 12.