Netball: South Bowlo Kangas win Tamworth A Grade grand final against Swans Red

Such was the case when the South Bowlo Kangas, who had lost just one match all year, were set to take on Swans Red, who finished third with a record of nine wins and four losses, in the Tamworth Netball Association A Grade grand final last Saturday.

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Kangas coach and club secretary, Lisa Fox, certainly knew better than to underestimate their opponents, who were the only ones to have beaten the top-ranked favourites all year.

"Knowing the team they had, we knew it'd be a tight game," Fox said.

"We were short-staffed due to COVID at the start of the year and managed to scrap through, and they had that later in the year. So that didn't help them."

But their late-season travails did not seem to hamper the Swans on the weekend, who took the fight to the South Bowlo players and gave them arguably their toughest match of the year.

"They came back at us three or four times," Fox said.

"We were never able to get comfortable and really get into that lead. That's what was really scary at stages, but we just kept pushing through."

Kangas' 50-45 win capped off a sterling season for them, which provided the club with a sense of redemption after their chance at a grand final in 2021 was ended due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Fox said Alex McCrohon and Jess Finney were standouts for South Bowlo during the grand final.

The team duly celebrated their win on Saturday night, and are already eyeing 2023.

Worryingly for their opponents, Fox was unwaveringly sure they would retain the same core of players that enabled their success this season.

"We'll definitely have the same core again and they're definitely happy and ready to go again," she said.

"We've got a good core of older heads and we're bringing some new ones in to strengthen them as they go."

Across the other senior divisions, St Ed's Butterflies won the B Grade final against Souths Bowlo Vixens, Swans Magic defeated Northies NC Matildas in C Grade, and Swans Stormers felled South Bowlo Phoenix for D Grade honours.

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