THE Hampden Football Netball League (HFNL) open netball team tasted the ultimate success for the first time in more than two decades at the Netball Victoria Association Championships in Melbourne on Sunday.

It was a drought-breaking victory for the HFNL, and redemption after the last two years had seen the side exit in the semi-finals.

The Bottle Greens have been competitive each year but hadn’t taken out the title since 2003 – despite being runners-up six times since then.

Hamilton Kangaroos’ open captain, Ella Sevior was the only local girl to be selected in the squad and was an integral part of the team’s defensive structure playing as goal keeper.

The Bottle Greens went undefeated in their pool winning all six matches to sit on top of the ladder, despite some close encounters with Bendigo and St Albans Caroline Springs (both two goal wins).

The HFNL then matched up against Ovens and Murray in the semi-final making light work of them from the opening whistle to win comprehensively, 19-6.

It came down to the final game of the day with the state title on the line as the girls did enough to defeat Goulbourn Valley and win 17-10.

Sevior’s preparation for the state titles wasn’t ideal as the 17-year-old battled an illness all week – which she has since found out was far worse than she had previously thought.

“I knew I was quite sick but didn’t realise the severity of it, it turns out I have pneumonia,” she said.

She played as goal keeper for the entire day with sickness inhibiting her from playing a more intercepting and running role in goal defence.

“It was a struggle playing with it as I had great difficulty breathing … but it was still a great experience and team to be a part of,” Sevior said.

“It was a bit of a bummer being sick because I know I didn’t play to the best of my ability but I’m still happy with how I went.”

The young gun pushed through the illness and said it was “awesome” to be part of the history making state title win.

“It’s great for the HFNL and a great reward for the day’s efforts … the nerves were high before the first game (but) once I had taken the court, I felt better,” she said.

While going undefeated implies it was light work for the Hampden girls, this was not the case as they were challenged plenty of times throughout the day.

Sevior said the team executed on court like a group that knew the way each other played, which is a credit to the cohesion and connection the girls shared.

“The team gelled together amazingly, anyone watching would’ve thought that we had been training and playing together for years, instead of our one training session that we had,” she said.

“There were some really close games in our pool rounds including our game against Bendigo, the teams we played were really strong and great to verse.

“They pushed us as a team and individually.”

Sevior was an integral part of the defensive personnel as she played in all pool rounds and the semi-final victory.

As one of the youngest players on the team, she watched on in the grand final as some of the more experienced girls ensured that the HFNL team walked to a historical victory.

“Watching that game was amazing, it was seriously like watching a VNL game,” Sevior said.

“It was very close at the start and then some intercepts from the O’Connor sisters and Emma Buwalda changed the game.”

Hampden open coach, Will Jamison is no stranger to success and has taken South Warrnambool to ultimate glory in two of the past three seasons.

Jamison has also coached the HFNL open team for the past three years and said it was great to get redemption following two semi-final exits in recent times.

“Last year and the year before, the team went well but went out in the semi, firstly to make the grand final was a huge achievement and to win by seven goals was a credit to the girls,” he said.

“Obviously an outstanding effort by the group, what was really exciting was the team had 10 of the clubs represented, so it showed a really good calibre of talent and the breadth of talent.

“I knew we’d had success recently across the junior grades, I didn’t know it had been 21 years since we last won open.”

Jamison said Sevior was an exciting prospect for the future of the league and applauded her defensive efforts on the day.

“Ella was fantastic, and I think she plays so well beyond her years in terms of her maturity on the court and her adaptability,” he said.

“We only played her in goal keeper as she was sick during the week, she had to play on some bigger-bodied shooters and did a really good job, she was absolutely up to the standard.”

Jamison added that he had seen Sevior’s continued development at the open level when his South Warrnambool side played Hamilton earlier in the season.

“She played across several different positions (when we played them), at goals and at the defensive end,” he said.

“You could see the leadership on court, she plays such an important role in that team, she’s a really exciting prospect and I’ve been really impressed by her appetite to learn and grow.”

The 17-and-Under Hampden team fell short in the semi-final by just one goal against Banyule and District.

While Kangaroos’ young guns, Maddox Ryan and Saskia Gould both represented the HFNL in the 15-and-Under section which fell two goals short to Parkville in the semi-final.

Other locals in action were Leni Robertson and Lexi Thomas in the 13-and-Under team which a just one goal short in a thriller against Ballarat.