Fourth time lucky forDevils as dream comes true

DARLEY’S grand final nightmares have been laid to rest.

After three successive grand final losses, the Devils finally climbed the BFNL netball premiership mountain with a defiant five-goal win over Sunbury at City Oval last Saturday.

Brilliantly led at opposite ends of the court by best-on-court medallist Matilda Elliot and star young goal shooter Olivia Cawthray (45 goals), the determined Devils led at every change of end, before digging deep to shake off a persistent Lions, who were chasing back-to-back premierships.

 

After leading by four goals at half-time, Darley threatened to run away with the match midway through the third quarter, producing a burst of five consecutive goals to push the margin out to nine goals.

But in a test of their mettle, the Lions – inspired by goal attack Caitlin Hill (25 goals at 83.3 per cent) – went to work on whittling down the margin.

While the gap was still five goals at the final change of end, Sunbury showed why it was considered the competition benchmark over the past two years, drawing within one goal on multiple occasions in the last quarter.

 

Some crucial intercepts by goal keeper Elliot, combined with some clutch shooting from Cawthray ensured that after three years of grand final heartache, the Devils had found redemption.

No one was more relieved than the person charged with leading the Devils to a drought-breaking first A-grade netball premiership, Shannon Blackman.

The never-say-die midcourter praised her players’ commitment and persistence in exorcising the demons of past grand final defeats.

“We’ve finally done it. There was extra pressure going into another grand final and us thinking we should be winning it, so what do we need to do to get over the edge,” she said.

 

“We backed each other and trusted each other.

“We were really united on court, even when it got close.

“And then best-on-court Tilly (Elliot) – just calm, cool and collected. She won us ball when we needed it most, and we were able to convert with Liv (Cawthray) down the other end.”

Blackman, one of four players along with Elliot, Monique Nagle and Ailish McCormack to have played in each of the four grand finals, credited their show of resilience in the last quarter to the trust her players have in each other.

“It was nice, no one was rattled and no one was getting annoyed with each other on court – again, we just backed each other,” she said.

 

“Honestly, I think everyone played their role, on and off the court.

“But those intercepts right at the end of the game from Tilly to keep us in the game and get us over the line were incredible.

“It’s great to get it (the flag) out of the way – I can stop stressing until next season.

“It took a lot of work by a lot of people, but I am glad we got the win.”

The Devils’ premiership was extremely hard-won.

 

They lost their first final to Sunbury by three goals, but rebounded to take the crown with three straight wins over Lake Wendouree, North Ballarat and Sunbury.

The Devils’ A-grade triumph capped a big day for the club on the netball court.

They also won B-grade 55-40 over Sunbury, but lost D-grade 39-23 to the Lions.

Emily Fitzgerald was best-on-court in the B-grade triumph.

 

Proud of her team’s effort on grand final day, Sunbury coach Kim Bailey said you could not help feeling happy for Darley after all the Devils had endured on grand final day over the last four years.

“Full congratulations to them, they are a great team,” she said.

“They worked hard to get there. Not just this year, but over the previous three.

“You can’t take it away from them, they just played better netball than us.

 

“Tilly was very good – a very worthy medal winner. It was out of her and Liv Cawthray for the medal. Their bookends were great.”

On the Devils’ five-goal burst that set up a crucial nine-goal lead during the third quarter, Bailey proposed it had a familiar tone.

“That’s normally what we do; we rip teams apart like that, but we didn’t,” she said.

“They really did their homework on us.

“There’s no doubt we are disappointed, but we tried our best.

“Darley were on fire today and played amazingly well.”

Grand final results

A-grade: Darley 51 defeated Sunbury 46

B-grade: Darley 55 defeated Sunbury 40

C-grade: Sunbury 32 defeated Lake Wendouree 29

D-grade: Sunbury 39 defeated Darley 23

E-grade: Lake Wendouree 20 defeated Sunbury 18

19-and-under: North Ballarat 36 defeated East Point 27