Grubbers ‘family’ sticks together to create new history

IT HAS been a long time between drinks for Ocean Grove’s A Grade netball side, but the 19-year wait to be premiers is over following last weekend’s win over Geelong Amateur.

Grubbers co-coach Candice Parker was part of the club’s last premiership as a player in 2004, and said coaching a side in a decider instead of playing in one was slightly more nerve-wracking.

“The key was just to keep calm,” Parker said after the Grubbers’ 45-53 win.

“Make sure we just continued to settle, play fun, and we just needed to keep going.

“Our game plan was sort of just to stick together and come out firing, and just stay with Ammos.

“We looked like we wanted it, we fought for the ball, we got up for rebounds, we scrapped for everything, and we got the win in the end.”

Ocean Grove played the second half without star defender Kelsey Ollis, who suffered a knee injury in the third quarter.

The Grubbers stuck to their guns and won the fourth quarter 13-9, building out to an eight-goal lead and the Grand Final win.

Ocean Grove captain Emily Moroney said it was a testament to the group, adjusting to Ollis’ injury and coming out with the win.

“It was pretty heartbreaking to see Kelsey go down, but that’s where we showed our strength and our determination,” Moroney said.

“Once she went down, we stuck together as a team and did it for the ‘family’, we pulled together and kept playing.

“We have this saying of ‘family’, we are a family and we’re all so close. We back each other up and we believe in each other, and that’s what I think we did today.”

Rebecca O’Neill tallied 40 goals in the Grand Final, reaching the 1,000 goal mark for the season.

Her counterpart and Ammos’ shooter Ruby Watson, who achieved the same feat earlier in the year, managed to score 37 goals.

Moroney recognised the quality of Ammos and the success they had gathered over the season.

“We just needed to stick to our game and not be intimidated by their strength, because they are such a strong team, and they play so well together,”she said.

“Not being sucked into the pressure of the game, using the crowd, and focusing on ourselves was key in the win for us.”