Sandhurst makes BFNL netball history with four-peat

The Dragons became the first club in the 31-year history of the league to claim four straight flags with a brilliant 48-33 triumph over a brave Kangaroo Flat.

A stirring 15-goal victory in wet and sometimes downright awful conditions added to their three-straight premiership wins in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

With no season eventuating in 2020 due to COVID and no finals played last year, the four-peat was six years in the making.

The 2019 win was also against Kangaroo Flat.

A historic fourth flag win was led by a best on court display by goal keeper Imogen Sexton, fittingly one of three players in Saturday's line-up to have played in all four of the grand final wins.

Skipper Meg Williams and goal shooter Rebecca Smith, both stars in their own right against the Roos, are the others.

It was an arm-wrestle early with the Dragons leading by a solitary goal at quarter time and by a further three goals at half time.

They were able to break the game open towards the end of the third term, with Smith and goal attack Kelsey Meade making the most of their chances in the ring to build a cosy seven-goal lead going into the final quarter.

After a dour struggle, with both teams adding only one goal to their three quarter time tallies in the opening few minutes of the final stanza, Sandhurst wrested full control to outscore the Roos 14-6 to seal a euphoric win.

It capped a magnificent day for the club, which captured premierships in three of the four netball grand finals it contested on Saturday.

The A-graders were joined on the premiership dais by B-grade and B-reserve, which defeated South Bendigo and Gisborne respectively.

Gisborne won both the A-reserve and 17-and-under flags against Sandhurst and Kangaroo Flat.

In the moments after clinching their historic four-peat, Sandhurst coach Tamara Gilchrist admitted she was still stunned by what the Dragons had achieved.

"It feels a bit surreal, to be honest, to know we've won four," she said.

"They are just so hard to win. It's hard enough to make it to a grand final, but then to win four, it's just amazing, absolutely amazing.

"I can't label this at the moment. Maybe tomorrow.

"I am just proud of the group and proud of the club."

Gilchrist gave full credit to the Roos for a tough fight and their resilience in bouncing back from a shock 39-goal loss to the Dragons in their semi-final to reach the grand final.

"They came hard and at half time we talked about momentum and the different things that can happen in a game that we've seen," she said.

"Anything can happen until that final whistle sounds, so it was going to take four quarters to get it done.

"So credit to them for matching us to half time, but we kicked away.

"The girls flicked a switch and off we went. We kicked on and were able to hold it down."

Matched against one of the league's most potent goaling combinations in Lou Dupuy and Abbey Ryan, Gilchrist knew her young defensive trio of Sexton, Ruby Turner and Sophie Shoebridge needed to be at their peak.

They did not let their coach down, putting the breaks on the normal free-scoring Roos for the second time in three weeks.

"We knew that Lou was a target - no different to us - we have a tall goal circle as well, and we knew we needed to do something to counteract that," Gilchrist said.

"Abbey was awesome, she sank her long bombs, but Sophie's pressure at wing defence really set Immy and Ruby up.

"As for Immy Sexton, just wow. She was just amazing from the word go."

They don't do things by halves at Sandhurst, particularly winning premierships.

The Dragons have made a habit of winning consecutive flags.

They won three straight from 2005 to 2007 and also went back-to-back in 1994-95.

This was their 11th premiership, putting them three clear on the leader board ahead of nearest rival Kangaroo Flat.

A force in the midcourt, Dragons captain Williams praised her players' desire to keep lifting until the very end.

"We knew they would bring it, they were on a roll from last week (a thrilling come-from-behind win over Gisborne) and we knew we really had to step up - it was never going to be just handed to us," she said.

"Credit to them, they came out really strong and firing and we knew we had a game on our hands.

"We really had to put the foot down and we did.

"It was amazing defensive pressure, not only by our defenders, who were great today, but our whole court.

"We all lifted and it was just nice to know your team-mates were all there in support and wanted it."

As they did in their semi-final loss to the Dragons, Kangaroo Flat missed the drive of star midcourter Ashley Ryan with her lisfranc injury.

In a touching moment, the 2019 league best and fairest appeared on the court in the dying minutes of the game, to the appreciation of players on both sides and the crowd.

A proud Roos coach Jayden Cowling said his team had simply fallen victim to a better team, but had plenty to be satisfied about in terms of the season.

"We had a really great start (to the game); it was 4-1 or 5-1 at one stage, so we had every chance to build from there," he said.

"But with Sandhurst going for four in a row, it was always going to be a tough day. Unfortunately, we weren't good enough towards the end.

"They had a really strong second half, but we had glimpses of really good netball, which was really great to see, but just not enough of them.

"They were outstanding in defence, not just at the defensive end, but all the way through the court.

"They made us work for every single ball, so their pressure was outstanding."

Like the Dragons, the Roos' best were also found in defence, with skipper Carly Van den Heuvel and Ingrid Hopkins earning praise from their coach.

Ella Wicks provided the Roos with some initial spark when she came on at wing attack during the third quarter, while Chelsea Sartori was strong through the midcourt.

On the end of back-to-back grand final losses following a seven-goal defeat in 2019, Cowling said not even the time in between made them easier to come to terms with.

But he vowed the Roos would return stronger and hungrier next season in their quest to avenge Saturday's loss.

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