Tourist Tornadoes to play for the NNA A-grade minor premiership on Saturday

Narrabri Netball Association’s 2023 season A-grade competition minor premiership race could be wrapped up on Saturday afternoon if defending champions and the current ladder leaders, the Tourist Tornadoes, earn at least one point at the Bev Burrows Courts.

The Tornadoes head into round 13 two points clear of the second-placed Fever after both of those teams scored round 12 victories last Saturday.

However, Fever will sit out with a bye in the penultimate round, meaning a draw or a win against the fifth-placed Hail Mary’s will see the Tornadoes go ahead by an unassailable margin.

Tourist and Fever then meet one another in the 14th and final round on Saturday, September 2.

In round 12 last weekend, Tourist continued their impressive unbeaten run when they downed The Flames 45-22.

The win was their 10th from as many matches during the 2023 campaign and it saw them move to 20 points.

Fever (18) beat Hail Mary’s to stay within two points of the top-ranked team, while The Flames’ loss saw the third-placed side remain on 12 points.

All Nets climbed from fifth in to fourth after they outscored Pharmacy Flamingos 39-27 to move on to eight points as Hail Mary’s remained on six and dropped to fifth.

The Flamingos are still sixth on four points, while seventh-placed Fever 2.0, which had the round 12 bye, are also on four points.

Meanwhile, the Hairy GOATs gained the upper hand in the B-grade minor premiership race when they downed Golfie Grubs in a highly-anticipated top-of-the-table clash on Saturday in round 12.

Both teams went into the weekend having accumulated 20 points from the first 11 rounds following 10 wins and a loss each, and Hairy GOATs won 47-29 to move to 22 points.

Hot Shots and Baxter Babes are still in third and fourth place, respectively, both on 16 points after they were also round 12 winners.

Hot Shots prevailed by forfeit against the Wilga Warriors and Baxter Babes outscored Wrecking Ballers 36-11.

The other match saw fifth-placed Firebirds (12) remain a chance of reaching the finals when they won 29-25 against Blue Diamonds.