The Open Murray League interleague netball team finished runner-up by one goal in the Netball Victoria Association State Championships. Finley Cats player Kate Purtill is pictured back right.
The Finley Cats have had several Murray League interleague representatives perform well over the last month.
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The Murray League representative under-13s and open netball teams competed in the finals of the Netball Victoria Association Championships at the Victorian State Netball Centre on Sunday, June 29.
The teams featured some of the league’s best players selected from the Murray League, including the Finley Cats’ Kate Purtill in the open side and Chelsea Kennedy in the under-13s team.
This was the first outing for the open representative team, who performed particularly well.
Playing a shortened round-robin format, the best netball league associations across Victoria faced off against each other.
The under-13s and open championships both had two pools, with six in each for the under-13s and one pool of six and one pool of seven in the open competition.
The under-13s Murray League interleague netball team that made the finals of the Netball Victoria Association State Championships. Finley Cats player Chelsea Kennedy is pictured front left.
The Murray League open team got four early wins against Northern FNL, Ariels VCNA, Eastern FNL and Whitehorse NA.
They then had a 15-all draw against rivals, the Goulburn Valley League, and a loss to Nillumbik Force NA.
But the team did enough to reach the finals, finishing second in their pool to Goulburn Valley.
The Murray League side then beat the Ovens and Murray FNL 19-12 in their semi-final, while the Goulburn Valley League team won their semi-final 16-12 against Hamden FNL.
In a rematch of the pool games, the Murray League open netball team played the Goulburn Valley in the championship grand final.
Murray finished second in the state championship by one goal - 15-14.
In the under-13s, the Murray league team won one of their six games against Central Victoria NA, 14-13 in the playoffs, finishing fifth in their pool for the day.
In the final of the under-13s, St Alban’s Caroline Springs NA beat Casey NA 14-8.
In the under-15s, Goulburn Valley triumphed over St Albans Caroline Springs 11-8 while in the under-17s the Ovens and Murray league team beat Altona NA 20-12.
The Finley Cats also had a representative when the AFL Goulburn Murray hosted a Junior Interleague Carnival in Rochester last month.
Bringing together talented young footballers from across the region, teams from the Goulburn Murray Junior League, Murray Football Netball League, and Bendigo Junior Football League competed in a full day of footy across the under-13s, under-14s, under-15s, and under-16s age groups.
Blake Vidler was the Finley Cats’ football representative, competing for the Murray League under-16s team.
While the Murray League teams didn’t win any of their games on the day, Vidler represented the Cats well against the Goulburn Murray Juniors’ under-16s side.
Blake Vidler lays a tackle in a Finley Cats game against Deni earlier this season.
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