Jacob Smith and the Mount Pleasant reserves will come up against North Bendigo in the grand final. Photo: Jordan Townrow.
Mount Pleasant, Colbinabbin and Lockington-Bamawm United will feature prominently in the Heathcote District Football Netball League lower grade grand finals with a slew of teams vying for ultimate glory at Strauch Reserve on Saturday, September 13.
Mount Pleasant
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Leading the pack in presence, the Mounts will have four teams across football and netball featured in the big dance, including senior football and A-grade netball.
After a 37-point victory over North Bendigo in the qualifying final on Saturday, August 30, the reserves received a hard-earned week off in preparation for the grand final.
Finishing the home-and-away season in third, the reserves punched above their weight to get the direct entry and will battle the Bulldogs again for ultimate glory.
While it wasn’t to be for Mount Pleasant’s B-grade or A-reserve units, who were beaten in the prelims by Huntly 35-51 and Colbinabbin 44-46, respectively, the B-reserve side has a chance to bring home the bacon.
Pipping White Hills by a point in their own prelim on Saturday, the B-reserve Mounts have booked in a meeting with unbeaten Huntly to decide the premier.
Not to be forgotten, the 17-and-under Mounts mimicked the success of the B-reserves, taking down White Hills 41-37 to secure a showdown with the Hawks.
Club president Phil Whiting reflected on a highly successful season for the Mounts, with the club being awarded club of the year.
“We’ve got three sides in the grand final outside the top two which is sensational, it’s enormous, and we’ve had a great year as a club,” he said.
“We’ve had great success, we had five teams in the prelim at Elmore and all but two junior netball sides playing finals this year.
“To top it off, we were awarded club of the year at the Heathcote league presentation, which is very exciting.
“From a whole club perspective, it’s been a very enjoyable year.”
Colbinabbin
While its A-grade unit looks unstoppable and its senior football side fell short at the hands of North Bendigo in the prelim, the Grasshoppers still have a couple of sides gunning for the chocolates.
Macy McCaig and Colbinabbin’s A-reserve side will feature in the grand final. Photo: Matthew Kappos.
Taking down Mount Pleasant at the death 46-44, Colbinabbin’s A-reserve team punched its ticket to the grand final and will hash it out with Huntly to decide a champion.
The club’s 13-and-under netballers earned a second shot at minor premier Lockington-Bamawm United in the decider after prevailing over Elmore 22-18.
LBU won the qualifying final 18-15 the previous week.
Colbinabbin president Tim Hill was proud of his teams’ success and said the club was preparing for an exciting grand final weekend
“It’s a great feeling and very well-deserved. We’ve got three teams in the grand final this season, so very proud and looking forward to it,” he said.
“It’s great to have some junior representation in the grand final and our two top teams, so we’ll have another good week of training and gear up for a big grand final weekend.
“It should be lots of fun.”
LBU
The Cats’ run in the thirds came to an end as White Hills sent them home 11.14 (80) to 7.7 (49).
LBU looked well in the contest in the opening half, as White Hills led by less than a goal at each of the first two intervals, however the momentum turned after the main break as the Demons ran away with the game.
The Cats also discovered their grand final opposition in 15-and-under and 13-and-under netball.
In both cases, the second-ranked side, which the minor premier Cats defeated last week, won through.
That means in 15-and-under, White Hills will attempt to topple the undefeated LBU, while in 13-and-under it will be Colbinabbin hoping to do the same.
LBU president Greg Brentnall is excited to see the club’s junior netball sides in action in the grand final and said the club would cheer those teams on from the sidelines.
“It’s always good to have our juniors featuring in the grand finals. We have great buy-in from our junior teams, which is a positive thing for a rural club like ours,” he said.
“They’re coached by some experienced locals, so it’s great to see and having anyone in the grand final is a real highlight of our season.
“We’ll be there bright and early supporting our teams and we’ve had plenty of support already, so its been great to see the club rally around them, even with our under-18 footballers in the prelim.”
