Tongala's minor premiership C-reserve side is looking to close out the year with a championship.
Echuca United is looking to cancel the championship celebrations of Tongala’s C-reserve outfit when the two sides match up on Sunday
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Tonny has fallen just short of matching the results of its B- and C-grade contemporaries, suffering defeat once in 2024.
“They’ve done amazing this year,” said co-coach Jenn Clark.
“(Our loss) wasn’t our finest game unfortunately, it would have been nice to go through undefeated but they’ve only had one loss and they’ve just got stronger and stronger each game.
Clark and daughter Jazmin, a 2024 addition to the Blues A-grade side, have guided their squad to the precipice of the championship.
After claiming the minor premiership, the Blues punched their grand final ticket by 11 goals against Moama in the second semi-final, but it won’t be the Magpies as Tonny’s opponent on the final day.
Echuca United is keen to turn its underdog finals run into a C-reserve championship on Saturday.
The unlikely rise of Echuca United has seen the Eagles, possessing an 8-8 record and a fifth-placed regular season finish, take down three of the top four in recent weeks, by a combined margin of just four goals.
“Four rounds to go we were sitting 10th and we still had the belief in the fact that we could potentially beat any side,” said coach Naomi Williams.
“C-res this year has been such a tight competition with teams at the bottom beating teams at the top, and we just were focused on getting everybody out on the court and playing together as a team, playing each other and having fun and leaving it all out on the court.”
Tongala will go into the decider with confidence, having defeated the Eagles in convincing fashion, 47-31 and 38-16, in their previous meetings, but the Jenn and Jazmin Clark-coached side will need to be wary of United’s recent giant-killing tendencies.
“Definitely weren’t expecting Echuca United,” said Clark.
“They’re going to come out firing and it’s going to be a challenge, but I'm sure my girls are up to the challenge.
“They have a strong mid-court so that’ll be where our aim is.
“We’ll try and work on those turnovers in that mid-court and stay strong through there ourselves, and I think if we can do that, we can get the job done.”
Williams is hopeful her squad can pull off a fourth consecutive upset but is well aware of Tonny’s strengths across the court.
“Tonny have some really accurate goalers,” she said.
“Their mid-court is impressive in terms of the pressure that they put on the ball and their defence is definitely some of the strongest that we’ve come up against this year.
“(Tongala) was our toughest challenge in the home-and-away season, but finals are an interesting beast, and we’re going to go out there, win or lose and give 110 per cent.”
Tongala and Echuca United will take to the court in the C-reserve grand final at noon on Saturday at Moama Recreation Reserve.
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