They may not have been at their best, but reigning premiers Bonnie Doon did enough to punch their ticket to back-to-back grand finals.
The Bombers managed to manufacture a thrilling win over minor premiers Milawa 51-50 at the conclusion of an hour of high-intensity netball at North Wangaratta Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
Errors and turnovers were few and far between, with the match going goal for goal for the majority of the match.
The margin was rarely out to more than a few goals, with the scores deadlocked at 25-25 by the half.
Despite the clean shooting at both ends, Bonnie Doon managed to build a two-goal lead heading into the final term, but Milawa came back hard.
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It was a thrilling final term, with the crowd exploding into cheers every time their team scored a goal, but at the final whistle, Bonnie Doon had their nose in front, set for a second straight grand final appearance.
Bonnie Doon coach Michelle Tanner said there were definite areas to improve upon ahead of the decider.
“I’m really happy we won, Milawa definitely didn’t make it easy for us, that’s for sure,” she said.
“They didn’t really give us many opportunities defensively – given five more minutes, they probably would’ve beaten us.
“I don’t think it was the pressure which got to them, I think it was just trying to remember how we play and not being influenced too much by what they’re doing, that’s what we struggled with.
“I’m obviously stoked with the win, but we’ve got more than that.”
Amy Starzer once again did the bulk of the damage for the Bombers, sinking 35 goals with only 10 missed shots but she was supported amazingly well by the injection of Jess Armstrong (15 goals at 78.95 per cent accuracy) into goal attack at the start of the second quarter.
Milawa shooters Emily Canny (37 @ 90.24 per cent) and Jami Ussher were immense as a duo for the Demons.
“For us, it was the injection of Jess Armstrong, she’s the one we brought into goal attack,” Tanner said.
“She’s actually one of our B grade players but she has played a lot of A grade this year, she was a big difference.
“She’s very calm, she’s confident shooting – I think everyone looks at Amy Starzer and thinks she’s the biggest threat, but I think Jess Armstrong made a massive difference when she came on.
“She doesn’t panic, she’s just very cool, calm and collected, she shot very well.
“The two of them [Canny and Ussher] together, we just didn’t get any opportunities to get anything because they were so slick.
“I think it was about when we had the possession, we had to score off it, because they just didn’t miss, we didn’t get any opportunity to rebound.”
The Bombers will take on Whorouly for the flag this Saturday, an opponent they haven’t faced since the very first match of the year.
The A graders will join the rest of the Bombers’ netball program in the big dance, after their B grade, B reserve, 17 and under, and 15 and under teams won through in the qualifying final.
In other results from the weekend, Milawa progressed 45-37 over Whorouly in an extra-time thriller in B grade, Benalla All Blacks defeated Bright 34-24 in B reserve and 35-33 in the 15 and under division, while Moyhu advanced 38-32 over Greta in the 17 and under match.
