AFTER an agonising one point loss in 2014, Poppets won the A1 Grade netball grand final at the weekend.
Poppets defeated Colo 36-28 in Hawkesbury City Netball Association’s top grade of netball at the Mileham Street Netball Complex in front of a crowd of 200 people.
The game was evenly matched, with both teams having control of the ball at different stages.
Colo looked very good early, however, Poppets fought back hard against the vastly more experienced Colo team to seal an eight point win.
Poppets coach Craig Sullivan said after last year’s loss, the team intended to savour every moment of the win.
‘‘We’re just really happy,’’ he said.
‘‘We had a point to prove after being beaten last year and we came out and did it. Colo have been a great team all year. They finished on top of the table.
‘‘We knew it was going to be tough and we would have to play every bit as good as we did to beat them.’’
Sullivan said the defensive pressure applied by the Poppets was the difference in the match.
‘‘I thought we dominated the game from start to finish and our defensive pressure was very good,’’ he said.
‘‘Our defence was definitely the difference. It was enormous.
‘‘We shut their shooters down and stopped their opportunity to score goals and put a bit of doubt in their mind.’’
Poppets player Charmaine Dimech said it was a fantastic feeling to have won the grand final.
‘‘Going down by one [last year] was devastating,’’ she said.
‘‘To come back and win was just so much better than last year.
‘‘We were all pretty confident and we all believed we could win it but we just had to put it on the court.
‘‘I think we just kept digging deep. Not that they didn’t, but at the end of the day we probably just wanted it more because it was pretty even [during the match].’’
Poppets were not so lucky in other grades; the club went down to Huxley by three points and 10 points in the A2 and B2 grades respectively.
Pitt Town-Oakville Purple beat Macquarie by four points in the B1 grand final and Schofields beat Glossodia Maroon 41-23 in the C2 Grade.
Woodlands had their own agonising one point loss, going down to Riverstone in the the C1 Grade grand final.
