Allstar Tanks (2) overcame a slow start to roll over Paragon Dropbears in the Mudgee netball division one grand final and claim the 2014 competition on Saturday.
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Dropbears flew out of the blocks and seemed to have all of the momentum, spending most time at Tanks’ end of the court and snuffing out Tanks’ attack when they were forced to defend.
A bit more time with the ball in a good attacking position eventually paid off for Tanks but the first quarter definitely belonged to Dropbears.
The second quarter saw a huge momentum shift with Tanks full of running and setting up shop at Dropbears’ end.
They strung together a number of goals, which brought them right back into the contest.
Dropbears did peg a few goals back but by then Tanks were in charge and down by the narrowest of margins, 20 to 19, at the halfway point.
The third quarter began with end-to-end, back-and-forth play with the two teams swapping goals.
However, Tanks slowly started to take control and showed more composure in attack towards the end of the quarter to take a 35-29 lead into the final break.
The fourth quarter was all about Tanks who were now in an attacking rhythm, they had far better structure, were visibly doing it easier than Dropbears who made a number of mistakes in attempting to catch up.
A few consolation goals for Dropbears weren’t enough as Tanks came home the winners with a final score of 49 to 38.
Centre Shahna Smith was one of Tanks’ key players in the match and she said the side was a bit rattled at first but it all clicked together when the team worked itself into rhythm.
“We started a bit slow but I think our fitness and endurance got us through, we started to get our groove on towards the last two quarters,” she said.
“We were confident going into the match, perhaps a little too confident which is probably why we were caught out early but we performed better when were started to play our game.”
Dropbears’ Jen O’Brien said that while they didn’t get the result they were after in the grand final she was proud of her team’s effort and it doesn’t take anything away from a positive season.
“It was still a great season for us and in the grand final we came out strong and had them nervous, we can still walk off the court with our heads held high,” she said.
The grand final was second time the two teams met in the 2014 finals, Tanks were also victorious on the first occasion beating Dropbears in the major semi final.
