By David Nagel
Playing your best when the stakes are at their absolute highest is what separates the greatest teams from the rest.
It’s now the permanently-engraved signature of an Inverloch-Kongwak A Grade side that will go down in history after a breathtaking grand final performance against Dalyston at Garfield on Saturday.
The Sea Eagles have now won a remarkable three premierships in succession; having soared to new heights across an unbeaten streak of matches that now sits at 42.
That includes grand final victories over Bunyip (2022), Tooradin-Dalmore (2023) and now Dalyston (2024), but it’s hard to imagine a more complete performance than the 54-29 victory that was over as a contest by quarter time.
The Magpies were left shell-shocked after the opening exchanges, with Inverloch-Kongwak taking a 14-4 lead to quarter time.
“It is pretty amazing, especially when you consider the last two years have been undefeated; premiers and champions…it’s pretty impressive stuff,” said first-year coach Liza Burrows.
“We didn’t speak about the three-peat or being undefeated as a team, but obviously individuals would have been thinking about it and would have been pretty nervous and feeling the pressure of expectation.
“To play the way we did, and stamp our authority on the contest in such an impressive way, under those circumstances, was amazing really.
“We had a lot of close matches throughout the year and were challenged on several occasions, so to come out on Saturday and play probably the best game we have all year was awesome in a grand final.
“We’ve got such a talented group so we just tried to put speed on the ball, play it quick, and push it as hard as we could.”
The Sea Eagles rose to the challenge magnificently, with its supreme midcourt brigade of Kelsey Buxton (C), Lanni Pryor (WA) and Kate French (WD) being almost faultless in a near-perfect first-quarter display.
While the Magpies struggled to move the ball with fluidity in any third of the court, the Sea Eagles looked to be playing a different ball game.
They linked up attractively with ball in hand, but turned defensive beasts when the Magpies had possession; making the court as small as a matchbox.
Amy Scott (GS) and Ella Sadler (GA) shared the load wonderfully well in the circle, scoring seven goals apiece in the first period of play, while Amity McInnes (GK) and star defender Renee Pilkington (GD) were at their ruthless and relentless best.
Dalyston is a proud netball club, being the only club to have played A Grade finals in every season of the WGFNC; and it did respond with an improved second-quarter showing.
Britt Thomas handed the Wing Attack bib to Eva Garnham and took control in Centre, while Mataya Maloney (WD) was another that lifted her rating in the second term.
But it didn’t matter what the Magpies did; the Sea Eagles had all the answers!
They absorbed the Magpies lift in intensity and raised the bar even higher, scoring 11-7 in the second stanza to take a 25-11 advantage with one half left to play.
If they weren’t already, the engravers were sharpening their tools by three-quarter time, with the Sea Eagles 39-17 ahead with a quarter left to play.
The last quarter was simply the coronation of a champion team; who played attacking and free-flowing netball in the highest-scoring quarter for both teams in the match.
Asha Boyd (WD) and co-captain Kelly Boyd (GS) entered the fray in the final term, with Sadler and French sitting on the sidelines as the final story was told.
Of the nine players that pulled on a bib on the weekend; six of them have played in all three premiership matches.
Kelly Boyd, Buxton, Pilkington, Pryor, Sadler and Scott will go down in WGFNC and Inverloch-Kongwak history as A Grade three-peat winners.
And finally, what a job head-coach Burrows has done, keeping the exceptionally high-standards that were handed down by back-to-back premiership coach Jarrad Walker; who missed this season in favour of an overseas adventure.
The challenge of maintaining the level was exciting; but daunting at the same time.
“Daunting is probably a good word, because they had won the last two and went undefeated last year; it’s hard to improve a team like that,” Burrows explained.
“But they’re a great bunch of girls and there’s some great young talent there to work with.
“Lanni Pryor, Ella Sadler, Amy Scott, Amity McInnes; they’re just young kids that are absolutely amazing.”
And with Pilkington as the on-court bar-setter, there was very little reason for change.
“It didn’t really change much at all, with Renee leading the team, and we had Tayla Smith as my assistant-coach, who played two years ago in the premiership, so there was some real stability there.
“It was pretty similar, with Renee leading from the front; particularly in the first quarter on Saturday…she was amazing.
“She lifted the team and played unbelievably well, but every player stood up to be counted.”
Burrows, who was coaching C Grade at Inverloch before taking over from Walker, said there was one thing that had impressed her most since working closer with the A Grade team.
“Their commitment and self-motivation, considering they’ve won the last two years, I was super impressed with that,” she said.
“You see it from afar, but to see it up close is something else.
“They don’t have big heads and they don’t even talk like a team that was undefeated last season.
“They’re a really modest and hard-working group and push each other to get better.”
Burrows was full of praise for Pryor who claimed the best-on-court medal.
“Her speed, and change of direction, is like nothing I’ve ever seen, she’s an incredible young talent and fully deserved her best on court medal,” she said.
“She never plays badly, ever; she’s always at an exceptional level and is a real workhorse for the team.
“It’s been a breakout year; she finished second in the league medal and won our club best and fairest on Sunday.
“It’s good to see her recognised, because she really has been amazing.”
