Tornadoes claim Narrabri A-grade minor premiership with one round remaining

The Tourist Tornadoes are Narrabri Netball Association’s 2023 campaign A-grade minor premiers after they stretched their brilliant undefeated run to 11 games in the penultimate round on Saturday.

The defending champions took on Hail Mary’s in round 13 and scored a 37-27 win to take an unassailable lead into their top-of-the-table clash against Fever in the final round this Saturday.

The second-placed side and 2022 minor premiers had the bye in round 13 and remained on 18 points while the Tourist Tornadoes charged out to 22 points.

The top four is now set in stone after The Flames (14) wrapped up third spot with a 38-17 victory against the Pharmacy Flamingos and All Nets (10) won by forfeit against Fever 2.0.

Ranked fifth to eighth, respectively, and unable to reach the top four this season are Hail Mary’s (6), Pharmacy Flamingos (4) and Fever 2.0 (4).

In B-grade, the top-ranked team Hairy GOATs have almost certainly wrapped up the minor premiership but will have the chance to confirm that in round 14 this Saturday. They prevailed 32-10 against the Firebirds in round 13 to move to 24 points and remain two clear of The Golfie Grubs (22), which won by forfeit against Wrecking Ballers.

Baxter Babes (18) finished the day in third place after also picking up a forfeit victory against Wilga Warriors, while Hot Shots (16) rounds out the top four after being edged out 24-23 by the sixth-placed Blue Diamonds on Saturday.

The top four is also set in the B-grade competition, with Firebirds (12), Blue Diamonds (6), Wrecking Ballers (4) and Wilga Warriors (2) all guaranteed to finish in the bottom four.

Unlike the two senior competitions, the under-11/12 junior competition’s finals series will only include two teams, with the two top-ranked sides after 15 rounds going straight through to the decider.

Those two teams are locked in after C and W Firebirds wrapped up the minor premiership on Saturday in round 13, and fellow Wee Waa side Namoi Cottom Thunderbirds earned a second-placed finish.

The Firebirds (20) won their 10th game from 11 attempts in 2023 when they downed Swifts 41-15. No side has scored more than 41 goals in a junior game this year.

The Thunderbirds (16) were also victorious when they outscored Lightning 22-8, while third-placed Giants had the bye and remained on 10 points.

Swifts (5) and Lighting (1) remained in fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

The under-9/10 junior competition hosted the 12th and final round of its regular season on Saturday, with the three-week finals series to begin this weekend.

Top-ranked side Rubies scored their 10th win of the campaign when they downed fourth-placed Valley Vixens 14-1, while Diamonds beat Sapphires 4-2 to lock in second place.

The minor premiers, Rubies, finished the season with 20 of a possible 24 points, with Diamonds (14) Sapphires (10) and the Vixens (4) ranked second to fourth, respectively.

Rubies and Diamonds will now meet in the qualifying semi-final on Saturday, with the winner going straight through to the decider and the loser getting a second chance in the preliminary final the following weekend.

The elimination semi-final will see Sapphires challenge Valley Vixens.

The winner of that game will play in the preliminary final and the loser’s season will come to an end.