Tomorrow is a historical day for Sale City Football-Netball Club as the club fights for premiership titles in five of the six North Gippsland Football-Netball League netball Grand Finals.
The prospect of having every netball grade in the NGFNL Grand Final was very nearly a reality until last weekend when Woodside defeated Sale City in the A Grade Preliminary Final.
Never before has Sale City had their Under 15s, Under 17s, D, C and B Grade netball teams all fighting for a premiership.
B Grade
Sale City Football-Netball Club’s B Grade netball team is the final Sale City representative in the 2022 NGFNL Grand Final.
In tomorrow’s penultimate netball Grand Final at Heyfield FNC, Sale City will take on Rosedale in the battle for the NGFNL premiership cup, and it will be one hell of a fight.
The Bulldogs finished top of the ladder, with 13 wins and three losses, two places above the Blues, who totalled 11 wins, four losses and one draw.
Don’t let these numbers fool you; despite defeating Rosedale 56 to 33 in Round 13, the Blues were triumphant in Round 3, beating Sale City 40 to 38, and in the semi-finals, 36 to 34.
Under 17s coach Kirralee Carstairs is also Sale City’s B Grade coach, holding all the same coaching values for both teams, with just one fundamental difference.
“I have higher expectations for B Grade; I expect more,” said Carstairs.
Tess Hansford was voted NGFNL’s best and fairest and will be one to watch tomorrow in goal defence/goalkeeper.
Much like with her junior team, at the start of the year Carstairs steered her B Grade side in creating a team motto: ‘Remember your four controllables’.
And that is just what the diverse Sale City team will focus on as they head into tomorrow’s NGFNL Grand Final against Rosedale.
C Grade
Finishing as final qualifiers last season, Sale City’s C Grade netball team will take to the court at Heyfield FNC tomorrow, meeting Traralgon Tyres United with a tenacious determination to claim this year’s NGFNL 2022 premiership title.
Still an inexperienced coach and in her first year as Sale City’s C Grade coach, Ruby Philips will hope the Bulldogs triumph over the Bombers, making it one-for-one in her Sale City coaching career.
“I have done a little bit of coaching at Sale Football Netball Club with their C Grade side, but I consider myself a fresh coach,” said Philips. “My mentor is Deb Fox [Sale City’s Under 15’s coach].”
Having finished second on the ladder, with one loss separating the Bulldogs from ladder leaders TTU, then having walloped the Bombers in the NGFNL semi-final 52 to 18, the prospects of C Grade claiming the premiership title could very well be a reality.
But finals are unpredictable, and these teams’ abilities are level pegging; this could be anyone’s game.
As the NGFNL Grand Final creeps closer and closer, nerves are building for the Sale City girls. “They are feeling nervous, I think is the first answer, then excited after that and determined,” said Philips.
With TTU notorious for bringing a hard and fast game, Sale City head into tomorrow focused on exercising a relentless intensity from the first centre pass.
“Our team focus will be to rock up on Saturday with a lot of intensity as TTU is known to bring that type of game,” said Philips.
“So we really need to match that but also focus on our short sharp passes; keeping the ball in our possession is number one. I think at the end of the day, the game will be a match of defenders because both sides have really strong shooting circles. Something to watch will be which team can overcome the other defensively.”
The Bulldogs will be hunting the ball down in the midcourt, searching for those turnovers down the line, ultimately aiming to shut down TTU’s shooters in the goal circle.
Sale City’s C Grade side has grown to a team of 12, having been plagued with injury this season, in which their team captain Katie Chivers’ season ended in Round Four.
“We are a side of collectively12 people. We initially started with ten; it’s been a community effort,” said Philips.
Sale City’s club best and fairest, Ashlyn Weston, is a hungry player and will be one to watch tomorrow in goal defence. C Grade captain Amy Flemming will also be one to watch in wing defence.
D Grade
Five must be Sale City’s lucky number this year. Five teams in NGFNL Grand Finals, and in the outcome of a win, it will make five NGFNL premiership titles in a row for D Grade.
The nerves are real for first-time coach Quinn Bird. “I am really nervous because it’s my first year as coach,” said Bird.
“I’ve been here [Sale City] for 18 years, and I played here forever; after four years off playing, this is my first year back now coaching. So I feel like I am really under the pump here, to be honest,” she said.
Sale City will play Rosedale in the NGFNL D Grade Grand Final; any betting person would be stumped placing a bet on tomorrow’s winner.
“Playing Rosedale during the season, we won by 22 and then 20 points, but when we played them in the first final, we only won by three; it was a lot tougher game,” said Bird.
Three weeks before finals, the Bulldogs lost a fundamental player, Kirralee Carstairs, following a broken ankle, which forced Bird and the team to work hard and rejig their dynamic.
Despite staring into the face of adversity, the Bulldogs prevailed, so head into tomorrow’s game nervous but excited.
“They want this premiership as much as I do, probably even more,” said Bird.
“They really want it, they have worked really hard through the season, they’ve put in 110 per cent, and yeah, they really really want it.”
The Bulldogs focus tomorrow: “Win,” said Bird.
“We need to fight hard for the ball and really want it. Put in 110 per cent; shooters have to be on and chase every ball.”
Sale City D Grade captain Elyse Counahan, who was voted the team’s best and fairest and third in the league, is an influential leader on the court and will be one to watch in tomorrow’s game.
