Roos come from behind to clinch grand final spot

KANGAROO Flat has earned a chance at BFNL grand final redemption, after surviving a second semi-final thriller against Sandhurst at the QEO.

The Roos – runners-up to Gisborne in 2024 – advanced to this year’s premiership decider with a stirring three-goal come-from-behind win over their fierce, long-time rival.

Sandhurst, energised by Ruby Turner in defence and Meg Williams and Shae Clifford in the midcourt, led by four goals at each change of end.

But a lift from all seven Roos players on the court in the final quarter swept them to a 52-49 triumph.

It was a near full role reversal for the Roos from last year’s grand final, when they led by five goals at three-quarter time only to be overhauled by a red-hot Gisborne for a two-goal defeat.

The overriding emotion for Kangaroo Flat coach Jayden Cowling following Saturday’s epic contest was relief.

“It was good to get through,” he said.

“We probably haven’t been in that position all season, being down. But it does show we can fight back if we find ourselves down.

“It was a real good test. Credit to Sandhurst, they threw absolutely everything at us, and they controlled the game for most of it.

“Such an outstanding 60 minutes of netball. Anyone who was watching would have seen that as an incredible display of netball.”

Testament to their dominance this year, the four-goal deficit at quarter time was the first time this season the Roos have found themselves down at a change of end.

Nervous early and down by as much as seven goals, the big game experience of Ruby Barkmeyer and Teal Hocking and the relentlessness of Ash Ryan in particular came to the fore in the final quarter.

Despite plenty of nervous moments throughout, Cowling said it was pleasing to find out that the Roos could respond when challenged, having beaten the Dragons relatively comfortably by 10 and 15 goals earlier in the season.

 

“It’s the perfect prep for a grand final and as we saw last year, anything can happen in a grand final,” he said.

“We were on the end of it last year, when we had that big lead against Gisborne.

“It’s good to know we are capable of doing it.

“The last quarter just showed the girls really wanted a grand final spot.”

A grand final berth has given the Roos a shot at a perfect season following their unbeaten home and away season.

They would be the first team since Golden Square in 2015 to achieve the feat.

Gisborne in 2024 and Sandhurst in 2023 each lost only game, in the Dragons’ case, it just happened to be the grand final against the Bulldogs.

Despite ruing the fact they could not hang on, Dragons coach Tamara Gilcvhrist took plenty of heart out of their closest margin this season against the Roos.

“The first five minutes of that last quarter let us down – after that it was goal-for-goal for the rest of the game until the last two minutes, when we missed a shot and they scored from it and then we made an error,” she said.

“It just wasn’t to be, but it was a cracking game.

“But it’s shown us they are beatable.”

Gilchrist said some unforced errors at both ends of the game had proved costly for the Dragons.

“You know at this level, a couple of unforced errors will get scored from,” she said.

“We definitely want to get through next week to have another crack, as we are disappointed within ourselves.

“It was a fantastic game of netball – it had everything. And a great battle as always.

“Credit to Flat, they came out on top when it mattered.”

“We are just going to have be stronger at the end next time.”

Gilchrist hailed the performance of star defender Turner, who had battled illness during the week.

“I don’t know where she found the energy today, but she was good,” she said.

“She wasn’t particularly good the week before either.

“But as we know, she is a serious level player.”

The Dragons will be chasing their sixth grand final appearance in seven seasons when they clash with Gisborne in this Saturday’s preliminary final.

The Bulldogs won last Sunday’s first semi-final against South Bendigo 68-42, giving themselves a chance of reaching a third consecutive grand final.

They were premiers in 2023 and ’24.

Gisborne coach Tarryn Rymer hailed the 26-goal win as a strong response to their 11-goal qualifying loss to Sandhurst.

“We played pretty well, except for one quarter when we let them get a bit of a run on,” she said.

“But we were able to put the foot back down again.

“It felt like the girls had the self-belief in themselves and they were nice and disciplined.”

The Bulldogs got big performances from defenders Charlee Kemp and Zoe Davies and goaler Claudia Mawson.