Coleambally Blues secured two premierships from two Farrer League grand finals on Saturday in Wagga.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The C-grade netball side won its first netball premiership in 11 years, and the under-18s broke a 19 year football premiership drought.
Football
Final score: Coleambally Blues 8.5 (53) def North Wagga Saints 6.15 (51).
Coleambally are the 2025 Farrer League Noel Driscoll Cup under-18s premiers triumphant by two points.
The Blues had their noses in front at each quarter time break, leading by five points at quarter time, then by two points at each subsequent break.
The Robert Turner Medal, for the under-18s grand final best on ground, was awarded to Nic Cooper from the Coleambally Blues.
Other key best players for the Blues included Alex Pound, Dallas Hickey, Angus Graham, Nathan Vearing, Riley Andreazza, Archer Gill and Alex Harvey.
Coach Tony Pound said the team did well to stay in front at the final siren.
“We got in front by a couple, then they’d bring it back,” he said.
“We couldn’t separate from them. It was definitely a tight contest all day, in the second or third quarter they held the lead.
“Our defence was definitely strong, and we were just lucky they didn’t kick straight.”
While Nic Cooper capped off a great season with best on ground honours in a winning grand final, Tony said the whole team stood up when required.
“Nic was best on ground, but we needed every player on the field to have a great game.
“Half a dozen of the players had their best game of the season, and we definitely needed that.
“It is hard to say we were the best team on the day, as they had more scoring chances than we did, but we were in front at the end.
“It (winning) means a lot. It was the first year back in the under-18s competition as we didn’t have a team in last year, and we slowly built with a few boys coming in.
“It is a really exciting time for the club.”
Tony said most exciting of all is that with the team having a number of bottom age players, a 2026 team is looking promising.
Netball
Final score: Coleambally 42 def Barellan 40.
The Coleambally C-grade netballers won the 2025 Farrer C-grade netball premiership by two goals.
The side continued their streak of exciting wins, coming from behind in the final minutes of the match by the barest of margins.
Playing coach Lauren Pound was named best on court in the C-grade grand final.
Lauren said Barellan was in the lead for the entire match, until the dying minutes.
“We were down the whole game.
“I think we were down by five goals at three-quarter time.
“Throughout we would come back to close to even, then we were back down two or three.
“We only got in front for the first time in the game with three minutes to go.
“We then held on to the lead for the last two minutes.”
Spurred on by the travelling Blues fans, Lauren said her team did well to stay composed in the final quarter.
“The sound was so loud, could not really hear what anyone was saying on the court.
“The crowd noise and support was pretty insane.
“A heap travelled across because the under-18s footy were also playing in a grand final at the same time.
“I think they were sitting on the hill in between both, so a fair few came across when there were breaks in play.
“The girls were just amazing, and it was a pretty great effort for such a young team.
“The main message was to stay calm when we got the lead, and get the girls to control the tempo when we had the ball and stay composed, even though it was so loud.”
As the most experienced player on the team, Lauren tried to make sure her younger teammates enjoyed grand final day.
“I’ve played for 32 years and played in two grand finals (in junior netball) and have never won a premiership.
“The main thing was just to enjoy the day and soak it in.
“Eleven years ago, in 2014, was the last C-grade netball premiership, so that was pretty cool.”
Pound said the team’s young players were the key to the grand final.
“I was so proud of the girls not just to get to coach them but to play with them as well.
“It is so amazing what these players have done, players who are 15, 16, 18 and 19. It is very exciting to see, and I’m very proud of them.
“I said in my speech this (best on court) isn’t a me award, you definitely can’t do it without the team.
“It (the premiership) is credit to the girls, they didn’t give up.”
The team improved from five losses in the first half of the season to win 10 games in a row to finish the season, including a seven goal extra time preliminary final win a week earlier against the EWK Hawks.
“The biggest credit is when other teams say to us how much we improved since facing them last, which is a credit to the work the girls put in through the season.
“Last year I did my ACL and had a knee reconstruction and was only planning on coaching the team this year and not playing, but I felt the team just needed a voice on court to glue it altogether.
“I have been very lucky with the players I got to play with.
“Most of the girls are keen to go around again, and it’s just whether they go onto play B-grade and other higher levels.”