Waves Gold found their second wind to complete a hat-trick of Bundaberg Netball Warren Family Homes Division 1 Premiership titles with a 43-42 grand final victory.
The waves defeated a truly brave Brothers Hurricanes in an absolute classic decider which had it all in front of an enthralled massive crowd at the Superpark on Saturday.
Minor premiers Waves Gold, who had been upset by the Hurricanes 48-46 in the major semi-final a week earlier, had blown the Brothers side away by 32 points in last year’s finale, but while this time it was a tight contest from the start, the reigning champions established an 11-8 lead by quarter-time.
They threatened to run away with it again, but Brothers fought back late in the second term but still trailed 26-20 at the long break.
But the Hurricanes picked themselves up off the canvas and took a 36-33 lead by the last break with an inspired third quarter, outscoring Waves 16-7 in that period.
However, Waves also showed their character, also digging deep to level the scores at 36-all three minutes into the last quarter, before the pulsating seesawing goal for goal end to end battle continued.
Waves ultimately established a 43-41 lead with one minute remaining, before Brothers pulled a goal back in the dying seconds, before they were beaten by the siren.
Every player from both sides played their heart out, and netball was the real winner, and while congratulations go to Waves, Brothers stalwart and club champion Katie-Jay Illingworth received some consolation for the heart-breaking loss when she was a deserved winner of the Player of the Grand Final.
Brothers were however the most successful club, winning five of the other 10 premierships up for grabs, with their Thunder team rumbling in D2, Storm striking in D6, Volcanoes erupting against Whirlwinds in an intra-club D8 decider, Avalanches sweeping all before them in D9, and Heat too hot to handle in D10.
Natives and Fusion each snared two premierships with Swans (Masters) and Rosellas (D3) flying the flag for the former, and Magic Sultans (D5) and Sandhills (D7) triumphing for the latter.
Alloway also claimed a share of the spoils with their Aqua outfit coming to the fore in D4.
Hockey
The tradition of Waves Cities and All Blacks battling it out in the Bundaberg Blue Riband Division 1 Men’s Grand Final will continue after All Blacks struck form at the right time to upset Raiders/Rovers 2-1 in the Preliminary Final at Hinkler Park on Saturday night with Isaac Wales a two-goal hero.
All Blacks II also booked their place in the Division 2 Men’s Big Dance with a Kalen Wilke goal clinching them a 1-0 win against Cities II.
But All Blacks’ Division 1 Women bowed out with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Arrows/Athletics, while Deanne Binder notched a double to seal Cities a 2-0 triumph against Arrows in Division 2 Women.
Bayley Fagg was also a two-goal hero as Raiders/Rovers downed All Blacks 2-0 in Under-16.
Meanwhile, Queensland representative Connor Castelli was a match winner with a three-goal haul as Cities repelled Arrows 4-2 in Under-13, and Hamish Cook hammered in all four goals as Arrows shot down Cities 4-2 in Under-11.
AFL
A tardy start by Brothers Bulldogs was too much to overcome as Hervey Bay Bombers iced an unbeaten season and back-to-back flags with a 14.6 (90) to 7.7 (49) victory over them in the AFL Wide Bay Marquis Macadamias Senior Men’s Premiership Grand Final at Brothers Sports Complex on Saturday.
The Bombers were always in control, with Dylan Rowe and Ben Holland each kicking four goals and the latter taking his season tally to an impressive 47 after slotting only 18 to be fifth on the list behind Across The Waves Eagles’ Jason Bethune (39) last year, while the Dogs had just one multiple goal kicker in Lee Taylor, who bagged two.
Hervey Bay were brilliantly led by co-captains Cameron Baker, Brent Firth-Meldrum, and Michael Lewis, while their young former Gladstone Junior star halfback Coden Koumides took out the prestigious Staunton-Taylor Medal for Best on Ground in the Grand Final in his first season with the club.
Another title continued the success story for their club legend former long serving champion player and multiple premiership winner Troy Ignatenko.
After not winning a game the previous two seasons, the Bulldogs came a long way under their returning coach Brad Grogan in their Golden Jubilee year, and after being second best all season, they could progress into a true contender next season if they
can keep the bulk of their team together.
The Bulldogs did a superb job as Grand Final Day hosts, and they also claimed the only AFL Wide Bay for Bundaberg for the year, starting the day with their Under-12’s downing the Bombers 2.5 (17) to 2.3 (15) in an epic battle, with Hugo Timms taking out the gong for Best on Ground.
But from there, the Bombers soared for the rest of the day, overpowering Bulldogs 16.9 (105) to 2.0 (12) in Under-14, Eagles 11.6 (72) to 4.5 (29) in Under-17, and Bay Power 13.6 (84) to 0.1 (1) in Reserves.
Football
It was a red-letter day for Across The Waves in the Football Queensland Wide Bay Division on Saturday, capped off with their Premier League Wide Bay Men’s Champions outclassing a valiant Kawungan Sandy Straits Jets.
Waves won 3-1 in Semi-final 1 on their home ground with goals to Zac Nicholas and prolific scorers Nykodah Smith and Bryce Hibberd.
Down the road at Martens Oval, Bingera kept their Premier Men’s hopes alive in their Centenary season with a 3-1 dispatch of Fraser Flames in Semi-final 2.
Waves also rolled on in two other First Semi-finals, against Bingera 3-2 in FQPL Under-23 Men, and 4-2 against League Champions Bayside Strikers in FQPL WB Under-15, and in the WB Division 2 Men’s Semi-final 2 against Bargara 4-1.
Waves were however beaten by Bingera 3-2 in the FQPL WB Women’s Semi-final 2 on Friday night, while United Park Eagles (UPE) were forced to forfeit their Semi-final 1 against the unbeaten Flames due to being unable to field a team, which was ravaged by the ‘flu.
Here are all the scores:
AFL WIDE BAY
Grand Finals:
MARQUIS MACADAMIAS SENIOR MEN’S PREMIERSHIP
HERVEY BAY BOMBERS 4.4, 7.4, 9.4, 14.6 (90) d BROTHERS BULLDOGS 0.1, 3.5, 4.6, 7.7 (49).
Bombers – Goals: Dylan Rowe 4, Ben Holland 4, Dylan Winterton, James Hickey, Todd Baldwin, Balin Tietz, Rikky Dunn.
Bulldogs – Goals: Lee Taylor 2, Ben Davis, Joel Saunders, Dylan Keam, Jaykob Gooder, Michael Lovett.
Staunton-Taylor Medal for Best on Ground: Coden Koumides (Hervey Bay Bombers).
RESERVES MEN
HERVEY BAY BOMBERS 1.1, 5.3, 7.4, 13.6 (84) d BAY POWER 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1 (1).
Best on Ground: Dean Stanley (Hervey Bay Bombers).
UNDER-17 BOYS
HERVEY BAY BOMBERS 11.6 (72) d ATW EAGLES 4.5 (29).
Bombers – Goals: Campbell Allan 3, Kruiz McGennan 2, Alistair Heckels 2, Max Wilson, Shayden Mihan, Ashton Cuffe
Eagles – Goals: Tyrone Russell, Kaine Gould, William McRae, Kaleb Bentley.
Best on Ground: Campbell Allen (Hervey Bay Bombers).
UNDER-14 MIXED
HERVEY BAY BOMBERS 16.9 (105) d BROTHERS BULLDOGS 2.0 (12).
Bombers – Goals: Corey Cates 5, Zac Field 2, Jaydee Hiette 2, Leo Slattery, Fletcher Cox, Kai Turpin, Cohen Scott, Oliver Mayne, Syd Coventry, Joshua Dean.
Best on Ground: Corey Cates (Hervey Bay Bombers).
UNDER-12 MIXED
BROTHERS BULLDOGS 2.5 (17) d HERVEY BAY BOMBERS BLACK 2.3 (15).
Best on Ground: Hugo Timms (Brothers Bulldogs).
FOOTBALL WIDE BAY
FQPL WB MEN
Semi-final 1: ATW 3 (Zac Nicholas, Nykodah Smith, Bryce Hibberd) d KSS JETS 0.
Semi-final 2: BINGERA 3 (Robert Cull, Michael Stayte, Gary O’Donnell) d FRASER FLAMES 1 (Mason McKenna).
FQPL WB WOMEN
Semi-final 1: FRASER FLAMES d UPE ON FORFEIT.
Semi-final 2: BINGERA 3 d ATW 2 IN EXTRA-TIME.
FQ WB U23 MEN
Semi-final 1: ATW 3 (Aden Russo, Sam Meyer) d BINGERA 2 (Shaun Sergiacomi)
Semi-final 2: UPE 2 d KSS JETS 1.
FQPL WB U15
Semi-final 1: ATW 4 (Nathan Saffioti, Ryan Hack, Xavier Ulbl, Luca Brillante) d BAYSIDE STRIKERS 2 (Max Burturlin, Finn Barry).
Semi-final 2: SUNBURY BLUES 7 (Ewan Anderson 4, Byron Griffiths 2, F Davies) d UPE 0.
WB NORTH DIVISION 1 WOMEN
Semi-final 1: SC CORINTHIANS 5 (Kate Connor, Hayley Smits, Lizzy Franks, Brooke Harrington, own goal) d ATW 1 (Hannah Tapp).
Semi-final 2: UPE RED 4 (Tanya McKee 2, Kathleen Pegg, Stacey Embrey) d BARGARA 2 (Terese Pym, Ariana Ulbl).
WB DIVISION 1 MEN
Semi-final 1: UNITED WARRIORS 2 (A Young, J Landon) d BAV 0.
Semi-final 2: ATW 4 (Lachlan Brown, John Giovannoni, Blake Hunter, Jayden D’Addario) d BARGARA 1 (Branden Dupre).
WB NORTH DIVISION 2 MEN
Semi-final 1: BINGERA CUTTERS 1 (Chris Fisher) d UPE GREEN 0.
Semi-final 2: BAV 4 (Josh McInnes 2, Chris Norris, Will Brosnan) d SC CORINTHIANS 1 (Brad Kalopong).
WB NORTH U15 DIVISION 1
Semi-final 1: BINGERA 4 (Cameron Manski 2, Annika Green, Ethan McKeown) d BARGARA RED 0.
Semi-final 2: BAV 1 (Zedd Peters) d BARGARA WHITE 1 (Kalan Werner) 5-4 IN PENALTY SHOOT-OUT.
WB NORTH U13 DIVISION 1
Semi-final 1: BINGERA 6 (Ty Lavercombe 3, Cale Stayte 2, Zayde Kitching) d DIGGERS 0.
Semi-final 2: BARGARA STINGRAYS 4 d ATW 2.
HOCKEY BUNDABERG
Preliminary finals:
U11s
Arrows Athletics 4 (Hamish Cook 4) defeated Waves Cities 2 (Sophie Aitkenhead 2)
U13s
Waves Cities 4 (Riley Noonan 1, Connor Castelli 3) defeated Arrows Athletics 2 (Tully Dorgan 1, Freya Cook 1)
U16s
Raiders Rovers 2 (Bayley Fagg 2) defeated All Blacks 0
Div 2 Women
Waves Cities 2 (Deanne Binder 2) defeated Arrows Athletics 0
Div 2 Men
All Blacks 2 – 1 (Kalen Wilke 1) defeated Waves Cities 2 – 0
Div 1 Women
Arrows Athletics 3 (Holly Smith 1, Eboney Braysher 1, Bridget Stehbens 1) defeated All Blacks 1 (Britney Williams 1)
Div 1 Men
All Blacks 1 – 2 (Isaac Wales 2) defeated Raiders Rovers 1 (Hiro Namu 1)
NETBALL BUNDABERG
WARREN FAMILY HOMES PREMIERSHIPS
Grand finals:
DIVISION 1: WAVES GOLD 43 d BROTHERS HURRICANES 42. Player of Final: Katie-Jay Illingworth (Brothers Hurricanes).
DIVISION 2: BROTHERS THUNDER 38 d NATIVES EAGLOES 34. Player of Final: Allie Geiger (Natives Eagles).
MASTERS: NATIVES SWANS 56 d ALLOWAY GREEN 55 In extra-time. Player of Final: Kristy Bilby (Alloway Green).
DIVISION 3: NATIVES ROSELLAS 35 d BROTHERS MONSOON 22. Player of Final: Ebony Baigrie (Natives Rosellas).
DIVISION 4: ALLOWAY AQUA 47 d NATIVES FIREBIRDS 38. Player of Final: Sienna Nagas (Natives Firebirds).
DIVISION 5: FUSION MAGIC SULTANS 36 d WAVES PINK 17. Player of Final: Mia Porter (Fusion Magic Sultans).
DIVISION 6: BROTHERS STORM 29 d WAVES EMERALDS 27. Player of Final: Narie Patullo (Brothers Storm).
DIVISION 7: FUSION SANDHILLS 26 d NATIVES KINGFISHERS 13. Player of Final: Zoey Kelly (Fusion Sandhills).
DIVISION 8: BROTHERS VOLCANOES 22 d BROTHERS WHIRWINDS 12. Player of Final: Dakota McIvor (Brothers Volcanoes).
DIVISION 9: BROTHERS AVALANCHES 22 d WAVES TEAL 17. Player of Final: Mia Brennan (Brothers Avalanches).
DIVISION 10: BROTHERS HEAT 23 d ALLOWAY ORANGE 12. Player of Final: Indi Hodge (Brothers Heat).
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