By Alex Woods
Warburton-Millgrove FNC started their next round of finals with some great weather with three netball games and three teams already in Grand Finals, Reserves Footy, A and C Grade.
They had three opportunities to grab some more spots for next weekend and it wasn’t going to be an easy task, but they had to give it our all.
The side started off the morning with Under 17’s taking on top of the ladder Broadford.
This was set to be a tough match as they have gone down 5-22, drew 20 all and lost by 4 goals each time they have met.
Warburton-Millgrove were the underdogs and had nothing to lose. They started the quarter strong and have a 5-10 lead at the quarter time break. Half time saw them make some changes and put on some ‘fresh legs’ and managed to keep the margin between the same and the half time score was 10-15.
The team changed back to the 1st quarter line up at into the 3rd quarter and secured some more goals to have a 6 goal lead by the 3 quarter time break.
It was crucial they kept the lead throughout and not let Broadford get close.
Broadford are a strong side that can change a game in the blink of an eye – which is what happened. A few quick goals for the 17s into the start of the last term but Broadford managed to secure the ball and get a few up for themselves. Before the burras knew it, the game was only a few goals in it. Nerves were bulging as they creep closer but they held onto it tight and secured a 1 goal win to earn our spot into the Grand Final.
This team is new and fresh with young, developing players. They never thought they could make it as far as we did, as the main focus was development and learning new skills, but the team earned it and have worked hard throughout the season. The 17’s take on Alexandra next Sunday.
Next up was D Grade, who played Yarra Junction for a chance to go onto next week. D Grade had secured some nice wins against this side having a 52 to 14 match in round 3, 16-20 loss in round 5, 42-6 win in round 9 and 40-14 win in round 15. Finals time is always different netball, so the girls knew they had to throw everything at it no matter what. They had a good strong start securing a lead of 9-0 at the quarter time break. A few changes into the second quarter and they had a lead of 18-3 at half time. A quiet 3rd term but still only managed to keep Yarra Junction to score 3 goals. Even though they had a convincing lead and heading into the last quarter, there was still no reason to take to foot off the pedal. Some change ups heading into the last term and some extra goals, the girls had secured their grand final position with a 29-7 win.
By the time B grade came along, there was just one more grand final spot to secure.
B Grade had a tough challenge ahead of them as they were set to take on Broadford. Broadford over took Burras on the ladder securing second position by the end of the Home and Away season. The season match ups were a 41-36 win to us in round 5, a draw at round 12 and a 20 goal loss at round 18.
They knew what they were in for and had to start strong from the get-go. At quarter time the game was all tied up 10 all, they had that strong start but had to continue on with three quarters to follow. Broadford got their jump and got some quick goals from a few easy mistakes of our own to be up 22-14 at the half time break.
It was a tough match, that saw a player from each side both go down with knee injuries (we wish Sally McIntosh and Broadford player a speedy recovery).
The girls came out firing into the third term and had a good strong quarter, and didn’t let what just occurred shake them up.
By the last break, Broadford had a 8 goal lead and the Burras would have had to give them their all plus more to shake up Broadford’s momentum.
The girls managed to not let Broadford extend the lead any more and kept the fight going right to the end.
Unfortunately it wasn’t their day and Broadford secured their grand final spot by 10 goals.
The club couldn’t be prouder of everyone’s achievements. The netball has 4 out of 5 teams in the Grand Final. The Football department has already secured 1 flag and still has another team in the grand final too. 6 out of 8 teams are in the final stage and it’s definitely a huge milestone and a first in history for our club.
Next Sunday is going to be a massive day for our club and we encourage all our burras family to get down to Healesville to support!
