The regular season came to an end for Narrabri Netball Association’s senior teams on Saturday when the local Bev Burrows Courts hosted the round 14 matches.
The four top-ranked teams in both divisions will line up in semi-final contests this Saturday ahead of the September 16 grand final, but the 2023 campaign is now over for the other teams.
The A-grade minor premiers Tourist Tornadoes ended the regular season in style when they scored a dominant 56-28 win in a top-of-the-table clash against Fever to remain undefeated.
The victory was the Tornadoes’ 12th in as many games across the 14-round season as they finished the year with a maximum 24 points.
Fever ended up six points behind on 18 points following nine victories and three losses this season. Saturday’s defeat was their first on court but they forfeited two matches earlier in the year.
Two points behind Fever in third place are The Flames, who finished the season on 16 points after receiving a forfeit from Fever 2.0 in the final round on Saturday. They scored eight wins and lost four times this season.
Rounding out the top four were All Nets, who sat out with the round 14 bye on Saturday and remained on 10 points following five wins and seven losses this year.
The other round 14 match saw fifth-placed Hail Mary’s (8) beat Pharmacy Flamingos (4) 25-21 in what was their final game of the season. Fever 2.0 (4) ended the campaign at the bottom of the table in seventh place.
The B-grade minor premiership was claimed by Hairy GOATs this season after they scored the clinching victory in round 14 on Saturday. Their 37-14 win against fourth-placed Hot Shots was their 13th in 14 matches this year as they finished on 26 points.
Just two behind them in second place were The Golfie Grubs after they prevailed 53-24 against Baxter Babes in round 14 to rise to 24 points. They won 12 games and only lost twice in the regular season.
Baxter Babes (18) and Hot Shots (16) placed third and fourth on the ladder, while Firebirds (14) fell just short after they defeated Wrecking Ballers 30-17 in their final game of the season on Saturday.
The other B-grade game did not go ahead as the Wilga Warriors forfeited to Blue Diamonds.
The Blue Diamonds (8), Wrecking Ballers (4) and Wilga Warriors (2) finished ranked sixth to eighth on the ladder.
While the regular season wrapped up for the senior teams on Saturday ahead of their two-week finals series, the under-11/12 junior competition still has one round remaining ahead of a stand-alone grand final, which the two top-ranked teams on the table will contest.
One of those teams is Wee Waa’s C and W Firebirds, which scored their 11th win in 12 games on Saturday when they downed Giants 18-12 to finish the season on 22 points ahead of their round 15 bye.
The other side that will compete in the grand final is fellow Wee Waa team Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds, who had the bye on Saturday.
The other under-11/12 contest was won 25-7 by Swifts over Lightning on Saturday.
The under-9/10 competition finals series in season 2023 runs across three weeks, the first of which was held on Saturday morning.
Two close games were contested as Diamonds edged out Rubies 2-1 to progress to the grand final, while the Sapphires and Valley Vixens could not be separated after they were locked at 5-all at full-time and then 7-all after two overtimes.
Sapphires and Vixens will now play a rematch on Thursday to decide who will feature in Saturday’s preliminary final, which will be contested against minor premiers Rubies.
A full list of matches scheduled to be played at the Bev Burrows Courts this weekend are as follows:
A-grade semi-finals:
Tourist Tornadoes v All Nets at 1pm on court two, Fever v The Flames at 2.15pm on court two.
B-grade semi-finals:
The Golfie Grubs v Baxter Babes at 1pm on court three, Hairy GOATs v Hot Shots at 2.15pm on court three.
Under-11/12 round 15:
Swifts v Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds on court seven, Lightning v Giants on court two.
C and W Firebirds have the bye.
Under-9/10 preliminary final:
Rubies v Sapphires or Valley Vixens on court eight.
To order photos from this page click here
