Rovers A bulldoze Katandra

An emotional Carissa Bulmer tried to sum up the feeling in the wash up, the Rovers’ A-grade coach jubilant at completing the season undefeated.

“I’m just over the moon ... this year is five years since the Rovers has had the premiership cup,” she said.

“I’m proud of all the girls, we’ve worked hard all year. I’m just stoked for all the girls.”

Rovers took to the court with confidence and, adhering to the coach’s directive to maintain possession, were the first to settle, breaking Katandra’s centre and building a strong lead of eight goals by the end of the first quarter.

There were no weaknesses, with every player performing their role.

League Best and Fairest Chrissy Hurst and her partner-in-crime, Natalie Sampson, continued their brilliant form, intercepting, deflecting, and even rejecting, every loose ball and rebound.

Chloe Way stuck to her player like glue, providing more strength to the defensive group.

Gabby Barlow put in a best on court performance in the centre, nullifying her Katandra opponent, and moving the ball through the midcourt with precision.

Chloe Brown fought hard against her opponent, patiently resetting the play over and again, before feeding the circle.

The goaling team of Abbey Wills and Bulmer worked the circle relentlessly, despite huge pressure from their talented opponents, scoring from close in or dropping a couple of long-range bombs.

Perhaps the hardest positions on the day were held by Sienna Jenkins, Elena Mulham and Hazel Glowrey, who were on the bench.

Katandra was hamstrung through the loss of star goaler Kendal Judd in the qualifying final and it was a notable omission from start to finish.

The size mismatch of Deniliquin defenders Hurst and Sampson ― who had flown in from Bali the night before to make the game ― over Katandra goalers Elly Keating and Bree Dudgeon showed as the Rovers locked things down at the back.

Conversely, Wills was as cool as you like as Kats defenders Bec Osmond and Chelsea Batey struggled to get a foothold in the game with Rovers surging to an early lead.

Deni’s fearsome foursome ― consisting of Wills, Bulmer, Brown and Barlow ― blitzed the Kats’ defence to spear to a 13-5 quarter-time advantage.

Katandra sent Abbey Monk from wing attack into centre in the second term, and the switch of angles worked well as the Kats scored more freely.

However, the nervous expressions on Katandra’s bench painted the picture as each Deniliquin goal stripped away a layer of pre-game elation.

This one was slipping.

The synergy between Wills and Bulmer was telepathic and, try as Osmond might, the deficit ballooned out to 11 goals by half-time.

The Rovers were superior in every third, but the stir of the crowd meant Katandra was always alive despite a double-digit disadvantage to break down.

Hurst and Sampson never showed a chink in Deniliquin’s defensive armour and Barlow was a more than worthy midcourt opposite for Monk as the Kats were slowly but surely ushered out the door.

It’s not as if Katandra played poorly ― Deniliquin was just better.

The Rovers’ defenders attempted to shut the vault in the final quarter, but through pure guts and determination Keating and Dudgeon were able to scrap a few goals back to keep the game interesting.

As Bulmer noted, the end result may not have accurately depicted the on-court ambience with Katandra valiant in defeat.

“Katandra was fantastic today, they really pushed us and the scoreline didn’t reflect on anything really,” she said.

“It honestly felt like it was goal for goal out there. But we obviously kept that momentum going, we knew we had to keep pushing every quarter and not let them come back in.

“But it’s a big credit to Katandra, they’re nice to play, they’re a great side and they really pushed us at times out there.”

Wills finished with 32 of Deniliquin’s 39 goals while Barlow was granted best-on-court merits.

For Katandra, Osmond played a fierce game, while Alana Owen was another to impress.