Tara Murray It wasn’t pretty but Gisborne dug deep to make it back-to-back premierships in the Bendigo Netball League on Saturday. The Bulldogs had four of their five netball teams in grand final action on Saturday, with the first three decided in thrillers. The day finished with the A-grade side taking on Kangaroo Flat.
For most of the game, the premiership cup looked to be heading to Kangaroo Flat. But the Bulldogs dug deep and were able to come away with a 43-41 win. Bulldogs coach Tarryn Rymer said it was an amazing effort to come back and win.
“They really got the jump on us and at one point in the third quarter we were nine goals down,” she said. “We didn’t play well, it was good that the girls were able to come together as a unit and bring themselves together and put together a good quality last quarter and get us the lead.” The Bulldogs also had to come from behind in last year’s grand final as well.
On that occasion they won in extra time. Rymer said the two games were very different despite being down in both. “Last year I thought we played really beautiful netball the whole game,” she said.
“It was some of our best netball. “Yesterday [Saturday], it felt messy and scrappy and hard work. We were behind for a reason.
“I knew if the girls could steady themselves and regain some control with slowly Ash [Ryan] in the midcourt it just made a bit of a difference.” After trailing by nine goals in the third quarter it was back to five at three quar.