Tourist Tornadoes continue whirlwind season with another big win

The Narrabri Netball Association’s A-grade defending champs Tourist Tornadoes continued their dominant and undefeated 2023 campaign run on Saturday when they scored a huge 42-point victory in round 11 at the Bev Burrows Courts.

The Tourist side took on Pharmacy Flamingos and won 48-6 to score its ninth win in as many games to remain in the outright first position. It was a victory that saw the Tornadoes move to 18 points and remain two clear of second-placed side Fever with just three rounds to go.

Fever was scheduled to challenge Fever 2.0 on Saturday, but that match did not go ahead after the Fever 2.0 side forfeited.

Fever kept pace with the Tornadoes as it moved to 16 points to remain just one win back.

Third-placed team The Flames had the round 11 bye, which meant they remained on 12 points and fell two wins behind Fever and three behind the Tornadoes.

Six points behind The Flames are fourth-placed Hail Mary’s and fifth-placed All Nets. They were scheduled to meet on Saturday, however, All Nets forfeited and allowed Hail Mary’s to climb above them into fourth.

Flamingos and Fever 2.0 are ranked sixth and seventh on the ladder, respectively, both with four points.

The B-grade competition’s minor premiership battle is set to heat up on Saturday when the two top-ranked sides meet one another after both scored round 11 victories.

Hairy GOATs beat Wrecking Ballers 43-8 while Golfie Grubs outscored Blue Diamonds 34-28, which saw both of those sides finish the day on 20 competition points.

Hairy GOATs are first based on their for and against difference, but the winner of their match-up against The Golfie Grubs in round 12 will finish in outright first with two rounds to go.

Fourth-placed Baxter Babes were also victorious on Saturday when they edged out the third-placed Hot Shots 31-28 to join their opponents on 14 competition points.

The other contest saw the Firebirds prevail by forfeit against the Wilga Warriors, so ranked fifth to eighth are Firebirds (10), Blue Diamonds (4), Wrecking Ballers (4) and the Warriors (2).

The Wee Waa junior teams in the under-11/12 competition continued their excellent runs of form in round 11 on Saturday as C and W Firebirds downed Lightning 22-6 and Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds defeated Giants 21-6, while Swifts had the bye.

The Firebirds are still first as they moved to 16 points to remain two clear of the Thunderbirds (14). Giants (8), Swifts (5) and Lightning (1) are ranked third to fifth.

In round 10 of the under-9/10 comp, Rubies scored a 16-1 win against the Sapphires to remain four points clear at the top of the table over Diamonds, which prevailed by forfeit against Valley Vixens. Rubies are now on 16 points, followed by Diamonds (12), Sapphires (10) and Vixens (2).

NNA fixtures for this Saturday are as follows:

A-grade round 12 – Fever v Hail Mary’s (court one), All Nets v Pharmacy Flamingos (court three), The Flames v Tourist Tornadoes (court eight). Fever 2.0 has the bye.

B-grade round 12 – Wrecking Ballers v Baxter Babes (court two), Wilga Warriors v Hot Shots (court four), Blue Diamonds v Firebirds (court six), Hairy GOATs v The Golfie Grubs (court seven).

Under-11/12 round 12 – Swifts v Giants (court seven), C and W Firebirds v Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds (court eight). Lightning has the bye.

Under-9/10 round 11 – Diamonds v Rubies v (court two), Valley Vixens v Sapphires (court six).