Olivia McEvoy took the Esther Cheatley Medal at the league vote count, her fourth, and her Colbinabbin side will now look to add another premiership to their trophy case.
Colbinabbin and Mount Pleasant will do it all over again on Heathcote District Netball League grand final day after Mounts’ preliminary final win.
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Similarly to last year, Colbinabbin goes into the decider as a heavy favourite after an undefeated campaign, but Mounts have clearly identified themselves as the leading contenders this year having only lost to the leader in 2026.
The clubs have met on three occasions this season, with the two regular season meetings some of the tightest Colbinabbin have played in the last two years.
The Grasshoppers would prevail by 12 and 10 goals in those games, and after another tight first half, kicked away to take the qualifying final between the sides on August 22 by 19 goals.
“In any normal circumstance you'd be really happy with (10 and 12 goal margins) but I think because we have been winning by so much, you're a bit uncomfortable if it's a bit closer,” Colbinabbin coach Jen McIntyre said.
“I did speak about that we need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, back our systems and back each other.”
Colbo are slightly behind where they were last year from a purely statistical standpoint, recording a percentage of 220.25 this year in the regular season compared to 242.33 last year.
The club has dominated the league not only as a team but also as individuals, as Olivia McEvoy claimed the Esther Cheatley Medal, her fourth, at the league vote count on Wednesday, August 19, edging out teammate and last year’s winner Ella Kerlin by a single vote.
Mt Pleasant’s defensive unit will need to contain Colbinabbin’s high-scoring attack to pull off a grand final upset.
For Mount Pleasant, this week’s preliminary final win over Elmore sets up yet another shot at Colbinabbin, and coach Anthea McCleary is embracing the underdog tag heading into the final.
“I guess everyone's expecting Colbo to win and that's fair enough,” she said.
“They've certainly earned the right to go into it as massive favourites, but we can look at it as it's theirs to lose, and we can apply some pressure to them that they perhaps haven't felt for a couple of seasons now.”
After being tested by Mounts throughout the year, McIntyre is taking nothing for granted as they look to complete a second straight unbeaten campaign.
“They're a great team, they recruited strongly over the summer and have come back a little bit stronger,” she said.
“They've been able to have a good look at us and do their homework on the things we do, but I feel like we were able to adapt pretty quickly during the games to the things that they were putting in.
“I would expect that they'll go away and do their homework on what they felt worked, the first two quarters (of the qualifying final) were relatively close.
“We've got to respect the opponents that we're playing, but we've also got to remember that we have been a really good team and just to keep doing what we have been doing.”
McCleary said her Mounts side needed to be at its best to pull off the upset.
“We know we're going to have to have a near perfect match to get the win,” she said.
“But that's what we have to set out to do, and we just have to use that ball well and apply pressure for as long as we can and hopefully get the win at the end of the day.”
The HDNL A-grade final will be held this Saturday, September 5 at Strauch Reserve in Huntly from 2.30pm.
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