Last-minute goal helps Royals Saints edge Narrikup by smallest of margins in thrilling ANA A1 grand final

Royals Saints 1 have completed the perfect season in the most thrilling of circumstances, to defeat a persistent Narrikup 1 side with a goal in the final 30 seconds of the Albany Netball Association A1 grand final on Saturday afternoon. Undefeated in the regular season and then tasting victory in the qualifying final, Royals Saints were chasing a 14th straight win in the biggest game of the year. It certainly didn’t come easy as Narrikup levelled scores three times in the dying stages of a pulsating final term but a Charlie Edwards conversion in the last minute of the game guided Royals Saints to an epic one-goal win. The electrifying 54-53 victory handed Royals Saints their third A1 title in six years, holding their nerve in the final moments before the players’ jubilation spilled out on the court after the full-time whistle. Royals Saints led by two goals at three-quarter-time and early in the fourth pushed their advantage to five goals. Narrikup kept coming however as Sian Lucas and Kristie Slater in midcourt fed the ball to dominant shooter Rylee Davis. Davis threatened to steal the game from Royals Saints’ grasp on multiple occasions and her side got on a run, scoring four consecutive goals to level the score. Charlie Edwards then had the biggest couple of minutes of her short time in the A1 competition, calmly slotting conversions to hand Royals Saints the lead back twice. Narrikup would level for a third time but Charlie Edwards nailed the winner with less than 30 seconds to play to avoid the match heading into overtime. Edwards finished with seven crucial goals from nine attempts in the last quarter and hit 28 goals at 72 per cent in her three quarters as goal shooter, winning the Lucille Holt award as the fairest and best player in the grand final. Taylah Orzel and Kathryn Jennings were strong midcourt contributors, while shooter Summer Stirling finished with 18 goals at 72 per cent and the defensive pairing of Narelle Humphries and Georgia Edwards did their best to stop the dangerous Davis in the last half. Royals Saints coach Carly Szczecinski hailed her side for finishing the season unbeaten and withstanding a huge challenge from Narrikup late in the game. “I think there were points where I definitely thought we were in control and then a little mistake cost us greatly,” Szczecinski said. “It was a really good game, really physical without being messy … we were really lucky to hold on at the very end there which is what winners do, remain calm in difficult situations, so I was proud of how they finished it. “We’ve definitely been promoting our youth. “I think Summer is the first person since Taylah Orzel to come into our club from outside. “We’ve had a really good program of promoting our youth and giving them a chance and it’s really paid dividends because we had a lot of depth coming up through the system.” Royals Saints had a nervous start in the first term with Nardia Humphries off target in attack, with six goals from 15 attempts, while Davis at the other end was on fire with 12 goals from 13 attempts to help Narrikup lead by three goals at the first change. The introduction of Charlie Edwards helped swing the game back in Royals Saints’ favour as they netted the first four goals of the second quarter to grab the lead, which they never surrendered from that point on. Davis was brilliant in the goal circle, missing just four shots for the entire game. She ended up with 41 goals from 45 attempts at 91 per cent to almost drag her side to grand final glory. In the second term Davis was successful with all 12 of her goal attempts and she returned a perfect seven goals from as many attempts in the third term. This year’s Michelle Parsons award winner Erin Miller was resolute in defence, shooter Asha Wiegele shrugged off a knee injury to play well and Slater was gallant across the four quarters. “Especially when you are so close, you’d rather lose by heaps,” Narrikup coach Janine Determes said. “It was turning around but a couple of little mistakes hurt, we had our chances. “We made some errors, one error is a goal in a tight game like that and they made fewer errors than us, plus their shooters were spot-on. “I was just really proud that we got to the finals, would have been nice to have the icing on top of the cake but fully deserving to Royals today.”