Euroa trumps Mooroopna in rip-and-tear Goulburn Valley League B-grade grand final

There was nothing tepid about the Magpies’ liquid display, fizzing and bubbling in the grand final cauldron to emerge 40-34 victors.

No sooner had coach Kellie Davidson made her podium speech and been wrapped up in a few hugs before she had to dip into the A-grade warm up, but there to soak up the spoils and savour the moment was Sarah Ternes.

One year ago, the wily goaler had just lost the A-grade big dance.

But this time around, it was sweet relief for best-on-court Ternes and her teammates after rubber-stamping a fearsome season with a win that mattered the most.

“The step up into A-grade for me last year was a bit of a late call up,” she said.

“It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t get the job done, but we’ve had a group of girls this year who many of us have played A-grade in the past so we knew we had a great team.

“We knew we had a target on our back, we only lost one game this season so we knew we were the team to beat.

“We only had to play the netball we’ve played all year because it’s been pretty good netball. Mooroopna was going to come at us hard, but we got the job done.”

Euroa’s compact defence, led by veteran Kelly Hill, made it tough for the Cats to break through early doors with Eliza Gesler and Lauren Murray having to work the ball around the arc to get a clear shooting angle.

Mooroopna was having to work for every goal, but Gesler was playing a steady game underneath the shooting ring.

Meanwhile, Cats’ keeper Chloe Meulenmeesters was playing angry, and it was working.

She began harrowing to cut off Euroa’s feeds and start attacks from the back, but she was nowhere to be seen when Ternes ran on to a pass in clear air, spinning around the post and offloading a pass with sleek athleticism.

Several passes later, she had the ball back in her hands and knocked in shot from way out after three bounces on the rim.

Euroa led 13-11 at quarter time, and a cool change at the start of the second term called for cooler heads from Mooroopna’s perspective.

Georgia Gattuso obliged and started rolling through the gears, but the ever-industrious Brodie West tailed her like a private investigator, following her every move in an attempt to unnerve the Cats’ captain.

Euroa kept entertaining the idea of a breakaway, but Mooroopna kept reining it in with turnovers and conversions to keep the margin at two or three goals.

Claudia Plattfuss, who had earlier starred in the Cats’ 17-and-under grand final loss, entered the fold to replace Murray, hoping to provide some pep to the Cats’ approach.

However, she didn’t touch the ball for the first few minutes as the Magpies unloaded one after another to storm out to an eight-goal advantage.

It felt like no one had time to blink before Euroa had cut the game wide open, but silently slicing away in the background were Ternes and Poole, who lifted their side into a buffer which was in danger of blowing out.

Mooroopna - and Plattfuss - started the third quarter like a bull at a gate, thrashing away with a treble of unanswered goals to spur some life into the Cats.

In addition to the fast start, Clark had well and truly recovered from her fall and stumped up some crucial interceptions to contain the zoned-in Euroa shooters.

The Cats at the other end of the court held up their side of the bargain and in no time, the margin was back down to three.

But just as quick as it had dissolved, Euroa’s lead was re-established in a flash as Ternes continued her reign under the ring, supplied by top-level service from Bree Sudomirski and centre Millie Watson.

This was slipping from Mooroopna’s grasp. Quickly.

Euroa’s passing game hardly wavered, and with legs beginning to tire, the nous of the two Magpies bastions - Ternes and Hill - was beaming through.

The Cats continued leaping around the court to try and cut back a 10-goal deficit, but Euroa’s measured method wasn’t giving an inch of free ball away.

When the hooter sounded, that was that.

Euroa had just secured a hard fought, well earned 40-34 victory, with Ternes modest when asked about her best-on-court performance.

“Oh, I did alright,” she said with a laugh.

“But I thought our defenders were absolutely remarkable.

“They’re always a brick wall down there and their turnovers kept coming and coming and coming.

“We probably could’ve capitalised on a few more of their turnovers, but I guess we put enough in that mattered.”