Eagles go down fighting against Echuca in GF showdown

GRAND final week was upon us after coming off a great win to secure our spot on Sunday's big day. The girls put in the effort at training, critiquing every play, looking back on the prelim and looking at what we could of done better and how to fix it. Going up to the club rooms afterwards, having dinner with the team and pump-up speeches from our super coaches Leonie and Bella set the mood right for Sunday. Grand final day at Deakin Reserve arrived with an earlier start then usual; the game being brought forward to 8:30am. Heading out along the Benalla Mansfield Road we saw the Go Eagles! signs that had been put up for us. Each and every one of our names had been put up as well. Nerves starting kicking in and conversations started about how a few of us didn’t get much sleep, but were running on adrenalin due to the excitement. Crowds of supporters started to role in and Mansfield by far had the most supporters. Blue and yellow streamers galore, signs from our families and lots of Eagles merchandise filled up Deakin Reserve. Warm-up energy was high with the girls getting around each other as the time edged ever closer for the big dance to start. The pre-game presentations started with Michael Van Dorsser reading our line-up out onto the court. Our captain Eva won the coin toss which meant we had the first centre pass. In the back out of heads was the reminder of losing to Echuca in round one by 19 points, round six going down by 10 points and at our first semi final only losing by five points to the bombers. Looking at those scores shows the team's improvement over the season, with Echuca only been defeated once in the 2024 home-and-away season. Now we were meeting them in a GVL Grand final. The first whistle was blown with our swift Ellie Marks in the centre with myself - Esher Berry - coming out for the ball in Wing Attack (WA) and getting the ball onto the ring. Our most consistence and accurate goal scorer Sienna Kynnersley in Goal Attack put up every shot and managed to catch every one of my long bomb passes. Moving in and out of the ring was our best on court, rebounding machine Charlee Bretherton in Goal Shooter (GS). Our attacking/midcourt end looked pretty slick with quick movement of the ball and bullet passes which had the Echuca defenders working overtime, Our defenders were on the move, Harper Smith our vice captain in Wing Defence stuck to her WA like glue, keeping her off the ring as much as possible. With strong and sturdy hands over Harper got many tips, swapping out with Maddie Berry whose sharpness of passes and drives was so special to watch. Leah Storer in Goal Keeper, put her body on the line for many unbelievable intercepts keeping the GS to only eight goals out of the 45 that were scored. Our very own Jacqui Hudgson medallist and captain, Eva Clydesdale in Goal Defence was keeping Echuca's GA out of the ring with hands over pressure causing a lot of their shots to miss. Eva’s cleverness and timing to go out for an intercept happened time and time again. At half time we had a five goal lead over Echuca who were looking tired and rattled by how hard we had come out. As we went out for the second half we let it slip away by a few missed goals and giving away some of our passes. In the fourth quarter we didn’t give up, putting up as many goals as we could but with time running out, Echuca took their lead out to four goals when the final siren went. As much as it was disappointing, there was also lots of happiness. The under 15s were the only team in Mansfield to make it to finals and the only junior team to ever make it to a grand final. The efforts of the girls this year has been phenomenal and the improvement of the team had really shown on the day. The post game speech was bittersweet from our passionate coach Leonie Berry who has got our team so far and the amount she has taught us in the seven months this team has been together. It shows the future for Mansfield Eagles netball will be bright for years to come. As for the team, we will be back in just a couple weeks to start pre season and do it all over again. Final score Euroa 45, Mansfield 41. Best on court: Charlee Bretherton

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