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Darras hold off Giants to claim A grade premiership

AFTER 16 rounds of home-and-away netball, followed by four brutal weeks of finals, Tyrendarra stands alone at the top of the competition, claiming the South West District Football Netball League’s A grade premiership after an epic 52-47 win over a brave Dartmoor outfit on Saturday.

The grand final, played at Heywood, was tight early with the Darras managing to open up the slimmest of margins heading into the second term, and it was from there that they would press home their advantage.

Led by their best-on-court winner, Amy Meulendyks, the Darras put together a scintillating 16-6 second quarter to open up an 11-goal advantage heading into the second half.

On any other day, that might’ve been the story of the game, as Tyrendarra goes on to steamroll its opposition by a massive margin, but not this time.

Dartmoor is a team known for making comebacks, having done so only last week in the preliminary final to defeat Cavendish, and comeback they did.

A 16-9 third term from the Giants set-up an enthralling final term with the game well and truly still up for grabs.

The Darras held firm through the onslaught though, to come out on top in what can only be described as a game and season to remember.

Tyrendarra coach, Rani Kane, who coached from the sidelines all year after injury her knee in the pre-season – iterated as much after the game, commending both her own side and their opposition for an exceptional second half display.

“We stood up well under pressure, I think our semi-final win (also over Dartmoor) set us up well for that comeback,” she said.

“We know Dartmoor are going to keep coming back and they’re unrelenting… we knew what they were capable of, so I think it was a matter of digging deep.”

It’s been a tumultuous few years for local sport with no finals played since 2019, and with this side the only Tyrendarra team competing for a premiership on Saturday, there were plenty of factors conspiring to heap the pressure on this one group of players.

“There’s a mixture of emotions going on, first of all of course we’re very happy to win, but also finishing top of the ladder there’s a lot of expectations on us to get the job done, so now that we’ve managed to do so I think there’s a sense of relief there as well,” Kane said.

She added that she couldn’t really discern a stand-out player among the group, admitting that while it’s a cliché, it was ultimately a great team effort.

“Obviously Amy deservedly got best on court, Hannah (Van Gemst) and Eliza (Alexander) connected really nicely again in goals,” she said.

“Fitz’s (Eliza Fitzpatrick) pressure out front is second to none, she’s scary out there… she’s a bit of a menace… but our entire team’s defensive pressure was amazing all day.”

There was understandably a great deal of disappointment in the Dartmoor group, having fallen just short of the ultimate glory.

But as they reflect on the season, they’re another team that deserves to hold its head high given the especially difficult circumstances they’ve played though this season.

Dartmoor’s netball contingent was nowhere near approaching an A grade grand final just a few years ago, so for them to go from that to coming within five goals of the premiership is an astonishing achievement worthy of celebration.

However, as it always is with sports, there could only be one winner, and this year it was Tyrendarra, a side who had been on top all season long proving once and for all that they’re the premier team in South West District netball.

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