Edenhope-Apsley’s A Grade netballers are back at the top of the Horsham District Football Netball League after a hard-fought and physical grand final win against Laharum on Saturday.

What was billed as a clash of titans at Horsham City Oval – with each team having won two of the past five A Grade flags – lived up to the hype.

Little separated the sides in the first half, with frenetic intensity and outstanding displays of skill across the court.

Laharum goal keeper Jaspa Robinson and goal defence Ema Iredell got the Demons off to a dream start with early interceptions, igniting transition opportunities for goal shooter Caitlin Jones-Story at the other end.

But the Saints held their nerve, with goal defence Olivia Spence and goal keeper Danielle Grindlay using their reach to harry the shots of Jones-Story and Laharum’s league-leading goal-scorer Ilze Van Zyl.

At Edenhope-Apsley’s attacking end, goal shooter Dee Dee Lambert capitalised on most of her chances – if she missed both she and coach Lavinia Fox tracked down offensive rebounds to secure second-shot opportunities.

With Spence and centre Hannah Magasanik beginning to generate turnovers of their own, the Saints turned an early deficit into a three-goal quarter-time lead.

Turnovers continued to define the game in the second quarter, with Laharum’s Maddie Iredell working hard at wing attack to intercept passes in her team’s forward and middle thirds, while Grindlay batted away multiple Demon entry passes to give the ball back to the Saints.

Laharum narrowed the margin to 26-24 after a second-quarter arm wrestle, leaving the game up for grabs in the second half. 

As the teams continued to trade goals in the third term, back-to-back passes sailing out of bounds untouched – first by Lambert, then by Ema Iredell – were emblematic of the pressure on both sides.

Late in the quarter the Saints sparked a run, with Spence forcing Laharum misses and grabbing rebounds to inspire her team.

Edenhope-Apsley adjusted to the Demons picking off their long, looping passes in transition by focusing on shorter, safer options and moving the ball more methodically.

With Lambert able to hold rear position against the shorter Robinson and receive entry passes over the top, Laharum altered its defensive setup in a bid to force her to catch the ball further from the ring.

But the Saints were able to change their angle of attack through Magasanik, Fox and wing attack Hayley Campbell around the circle, and even when made to shoot from further, Lambert was still deadly accurate.

Edenhope-Apsley had a five-goal lead at the last change, but Laharum cut the margin to three when Van Zyl atoned for earlier misses with a pair of long-range goals and found Jones-Story under the ring with a deft pass to set up another score.

Every time the Demons threatened to wrest control of the game away however, Edenhope-Apsley was able to find Lambert under the ring for a steadying goal.

Fox turned the match in her team’s favour by racing in on a Laharum centre pass, tipping a ball and causing a contact call against Ema Iredell.

The resulting score – and a conversion from the ensuing centre pass after multiple offensive rebounds – put the Saints up by six goals.

Laharum continued to fight, again trimming the margin to three goals, but steadfast defence from Spence and Grindlay, along with repeated conversions from Lambert, saw the final score blow out to 53-46 in the Saints’ favour.

The win gave Edenhope-Apsley its third A Grade premiership in five years, but with only Fox and Campbell remaining from the team’s previous flag in 2023, Fox said hard work had gone into rebuilding the side.

“We’ve brought in Dee Dee, Hannah,  Olivia and Hayley and then we’ve got some great local talent too that balances out nicely,” she said.

Fox said her players adapted and responded after a qualifying-final loss to Noradjuha-Quantong, and were prepared to change their approach at half-time in the grand final.

“Ema Iredell does a fantastic job of reading the lateral ball, so it was a bit of a focus for us to try and keep it in the one channel and short, so that we didn’t turn it over quite as much,” she said.

“I think that worked well for us in the second half.”

Fox praised the effort of her entire team.

“Dani Grindlay is an absolute rock star. Coming up from C Grade two years ago to now being our A Grade starting-seven goal keeper, she deserves all the success that’s coming her way,” she said.

“And her partner in crime, Olivia Spence, was outstanding. Their combination I just watch in awe and I love it. 

“We’re very lucky to have them in our team.”

Lambert received the best-on-court medal after scoring a game-high 42 goals at an 84 per cent conversion rate and Fox said she was thrilled for her star goalie.

“I just love her to bits. She does such a mountain of work in the background, so I’m so happy for her to get all the rewards today,” Fox said.

Laharum co-coach Brooke Taylor said she was proud of her team’s efforts despite coming up short in the grand final.

“It is hard to take a loss like that in the grand final, but in finals everything’s different. There’s more pressure on the goalies and there’s more pressure on every pass all the way down the court,” she said.

“We knew they were going to bring it and we’d have to be at our best. Unfortunately they were at their best and we weren’t at ours today.

“They didn’t have their goal defence, Olivia Spence, last time we played them. 

“So there was definitely more physical pressure in the goal circle on us this time and a lot more hand over ball on our shots.

“Defensively they really did a good job, because our goalies are phenomenal. 

“They needed to do a really good job defensively to get over the line, and they did.”

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