Royals Saints young gun Charlie Edwards nets 28 goals to claim best and fairest award in A1 grand final win

Emerging shooter Charlie Edwards capped her maiden A1 premiership medal with the Lucille Holt award for an outstanding grand final display on Saturday. The 18-year-old starred for Royals Saints in the biggest game, netting 28 goals to receive the perpetual trophy as the fairest and best player in the A1 grand final. In her first season of playing A1 netball, Edwards started on the bench before being swung into action as goal shooter in the second term. That move proved decisive as her side overcame a three-goal deficit and went on to record an epic one-goal victory at the final buzzer. The teenager helped change the game in the second quarter but it was her display in the final period that showed experience beyond her years. Royals Saints led by as much as five goals early in the fourth term but Narrikup fought doggedly to get right back into the decider. Scores were level on three occasions in the dying minutes of the grand final but on each occasion it was Edwards who calmly sunk a goal. With less than 30 seconds to play Edwards nailed the winning goal to hand her side a memorable grand final triumph and clinch the individual honour. “It was a bit intense,” she said. “I got pretty nervous seeing the ball coming back and forth but I knew the girls would hold on. “I tried not to look at the score too much in the last little bit. “I thought just work on what we’ve been working on all year and try and make those (shots).” For her three quarters as goal shooter Edwards finished with 28 goals at 72 per cent accuracy. Her biggest return came in the second, hitting 12 of her 18 attempts after being injected into the game before she nailed nine from 12 in the third and finished off with seven goals from nine attempts in the fourth. Edwards played with her twin sister Georgia in the premiership team and said it was a surreal experience playing in such a wonderful grand final. “It’s been a pretty amazing experience coming into to such a great team, they’ve definitely showed us the way and it’s been a great experience,” she said. “Narrikup definitely got a lot better throughout the season, they have been our toughest competition throughout and it was fitting they got into the grand final.”