Ammos and Grubbers primed for Bellarine shootout

BELLARINE Netball League (BNL) will have a new A Grade premier by the end of this Saturday, September 3 as Geelong Amateur and Ocean Grove prepare to lock horns in the season decider.

Geelong Amateur will look to go one step further than its 2019 defeat to Torquay and win its first flag since 2016, while the Grubbers hope to bring its first A Grade premiership back to the Grove in 18 years (2004).

Grubbers defender and stalwart Candice Parker was a part of the side that won Ocean Grove’s most recent A Grade premiership in 2004, but excitement is brewing for the Bellarine side to rewrite history.

“We’re just really excited,” Parker said.

“We know what we can do, we just need to get it done on the day.”

Ocean Grove head coach Nikki Cooke has hammered home the message of “keeping it simple”, according to Parker.

“We aim to play good netball, playing within our structures,” she said.

“We have a lot of depth so that allows us to move players around, which has been a great tool for us this year, but the main thing for us is staying as a team.

“Ammos moves the ball really well down to their goal, so applying effective full-court pressure will be important Saturday, and then turning that into good transition for us back to our end is the key offensively.”

Geelong Amateur captain Ashlea Creasey said her side was enjoying the Grand Final build-up after an abrupt ending to the season in 2021.

“It’s really good to be enjoying that finals feeling again after the season stopped dead due to COVID-19 last year.

“We’ve been really focusing on ourselves this season and having fun, we don’t worry too much about the opponent, more so thinking about how we can build upon our game, and we’ll continue that into Saturday.

“We love playing Ocean Grove, Bec O’Neill is always a force for them, so we’ll look at what we can do to control her if we can and just play our game.”

The A Grade netball Grand Final remains scheduled for 3.15pm.