The Roses have joined Valley Vixens in the 2022 Narrabri Netball Association under-9/10 grand final after scoring a 13-goal preliminary final victory on Saturday at the Bev Burrows Courts.
While the other three competitions are still playing their regular seasons, the youngest age group’s campaign will wrap up this Saturday.
At the completion of an 11-round regular season, the last of which was cancelled due to wet weather, Valley Vixens were ranked first on the three-team ladder.
That saw them advance straight through to the August 27 decider.
The second-placed side, The Roses, and third-placed team, The Diamonds, met in a playoff game on Saturday for the chance to play in the decider, and The Roses prevailed 15-2 in that game.
The two grand finalists have enjoyed a competitive rivalry throughout the 2022 campaign, and while the Vixens won six of their nine meetings this year, The Roses have prevailed in two of the most recent three of those.
The other junior competition will host the final round of its regular season on Saturday when the under-11/12 sides line up for round 13.
The C and W Firebirds, Magpies and Giants were all winners in round 12. The second-placed Firebirds beat fifth-placed Lightning 18-7, fourth-placed Giants outscored the ladder leaders, Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds, 11-8, and third-placed Magpies edged out the last-placed Swifts 8-6.
The final round of the regular season this Saturday will see a blockbuster Wee Waa derby determine the minor premiership.
The Thunderbirds are currently one point ahead of the Firebirds at the top, and those two sides will go head-to-head this weekend. The winner of that match will finish on top of the ladder.
This year’s under-11/12 finals series will be contested across three weeks.
All six teams will be in action in week one on Saturday, September 3, and that will be reduced to the four semi-finalists in week two on Saturday, September 10, and then two grand finalists on Saturday, September 17.
In week one, game one will be played between the teams that finish ranked first and second on the ladder, game two will be played between the teams that finish ranked third and sixth on the ladder, and game three will be played between the sides that finish ranked fourth and fifth on the ladder.
The winner of game one will take on the winner of game three in one semi-final, and the loser of game one will play the winner of game two in the other semi-final. The losers of games two and three in week one will be eliminated.
Meanwhile, the race for the A-grade minor premiership is still alive after ladder leaders Fever forfeited their round 12 game on Saturday.
Fever was scheduled to play against Tourist Tornadoes.
The Tornadoes earned two points without taking the court, which saw them jump to third on the ladder, and Not Fast But Furious dropped from third to fourth after it had the round 12 bye.
Second-placed Wee Waa Flames are now just one win back from Fever with two rounds to go after they won 39-14 against the sixth-placed Vicious Delicious in round 12.
With Fever sitting out in the final round with a bye, the Flames can still finish at the top in the outright first position depending on the round 13 results.
The other round 12 game was won by fifth-placed Pharmacy Flamingos. They kept their top-four hopes alive with a 38-28 win against last-placed Golfie Grubs to move just one point behind Not Fast But Furious.
With the four top-ranked sides set to play off in this year’s A-grade finals series, the race to the finals will be an exciting one as the Flamingos set their sights on overtaking at least one of the teams ahead of them.
In B-grade, the two top-ranked sides were both victorious on Saturday as the race for first place continues. Top-ranked All Stars are still in first place and are in the box seat to play in the A-reserve finals series after they downed third-placed Pretty Poison 30-22, while second-placed side The Goats are still just one win back after they beat last-placed Hot Shots 44-4.
The other B-grade games were won by Wilga Warriors and Win Diesel. The Warriors climbed off the bottom of the table and into seventh place when they downed the fourth-placed Blue Rebels 29-25, while Win Diesel finished the round in outright fifth place after they beat sixth-placed side Win Or Booze 48-23.
Matches scheduled for this Saturday matches are as follows:
A-grade – Not Fast But Furious v Fever, Pharmacy Flamingos v Wee Waa Flames, Tourist Tornadoes v Vicious and Delicious. Bye – Golfie Grubs.
B-grade – Win Diesel v Blue Rebels, All Nets v Win Or Booze, Hot Shots v Wilga Warriors, The Goats v Pretty Poison.
Under-11/12 – Giants v Magpies, C and W Firebirds v Namoi Cotton Thunderbirds, Swifts v Lightning.
Under-9/10 – Valley Vixens v The Roses (grand final).
