Tara Murray
It wasn’t pretty but Gisborne dug deep to make it back-to-back premierships in the Bendigo Netball League on Saturday.
The Bulldogs had four of their five netball teams in grand final action on Saturday, with the first three decided in thrillers.
The day finished with the A-grade side taking on Kangaroo Flat.
For most of the game, the premiership cup looked to be heading to Kangaroo Flat.
But the Bulldogs dug deep and were able to come away with a 43-41 win.
Bulldogs coach Tarryn Rymer said it was an amazing effort to come back and win.
“They really got the jump on us and at one point in the third quarter we were nine goals down,” she said.
“We didn’t play well, it was good that the girls were able to come together as a unit and bring themselves together and put together a good quality last quarter and get us the lead.”
The Bulldogs also had to come from behind in last year’s grand final as well. On that occasion they won in extra time.
Rymer said the two games were very different despite being down in both.
“Last year I thought we played really beautiful netball the whole game,” she said. “It was some of our best netball.
“Yesterday [Saturday], it felt messy and scrappy and hard work. We were behind for a reason.
“I knew if the girls could steady themselves and regain some control with slowly Ash [Ryan] in the midcourt it just made a bit of a difference.”
After trailing by nine goals in the third quarter it was back to five at three quarter time, which was also the half time margin.
The Bulldogs had made some changes to their line up to try and get back into the game.
The circle defenders in Charlee Kemp and Zoe Davies switched positions while Tiana Newman went into centre, Emerson Lakey in wing attack and Maddy Stewart into wing defence.
The Bulldogs levelled the scores midway through the last quarter before hitting the front nine minutes into the last quarter.
The Bulldogs didn’t give up the lead from there and managed to get several big rebounds.
“It was one of those days that you just have to get the job done,” said Rymer. “It kind of felt like that.
“I was proud of the girls to pull through under those circumstances when it felt like things weren’t going our way.”
Torie Skrijel was named best on court.
Rymer said her young shooter was so calm, cool and collected the whole game, despite being super nervous.
“She just held and did all the right things and kept control of the game,” she said. “I’m very proud of her.”
Rymer said they never really thought about going back-to-back. She said it was more about wanting to get the job done.
It was the club’s third A-grade premiership, having also won in 2013.
Tiana Newman has played in all premierships. Rymer played in the first one and has been coach the next two.
The Bulldogs B-grade side also claimed the premiership, while A-reserve and B-reserve suffered losses as did the three football sides.
Rymer said they put a real focus on the whole netball program.
“A-res was a goal after the siren which was pretty shattering considering we hadn’t lost all season,” she said.
“Our B-grade pretty much won in the last 10 seconds. It was a bit heartbreaking seeing some of those teams not get over the line.
“But grand finals are hard to win and considering it was nice to see that united front of all the girls together on the court.
“Our win is everyone’s win.”
