The 2018 State League season has come to a close with 3 highly entertaining Grand Finals played over the day.

As always the scores, goal scorers and all the other information you will need can be found over on the State League Page.

C Grade

The C Grade Grand Final saw a rematch from last years Grand Final, with Flinders, who finished the season on top of the ladder, take on Boomers, who finished the season in second place and defeated Arista in the Preliminary Final. These two teams had met three times previously this season with Flinders holding a 2-1 advantage courtesy of victories in Round 1 (14-10) and Round 6 (15-13), with Boomers claiming victory in Round 11 (16-13).

The game started with a couple of early goals for Boomers, taking a quick 3-1 lead before extending their lead to 4 goals midway through the first half, leading 8-4, before Flinders upped their pressure and some uncharacteristic mistakes from Boomers saw Flinders take control of the next 10 minutes to level the scores up at 8-8, before the half time buzzer rang. The second half was a more defensive affair with scoring at a premium, it was Boomers who were able to score the first couple of goal to get their lead back up to 4 goals, with the scores at 13-9, Flinders again made their run pegging two goals back to see the game close to 13-11, but as the game entered the final stages, Boomers were able to steady and get the next goal to take the lead out to 3, at 14-11, and thats the way the game would end, with Boomers claiming a 14-11 victory over Flinders to claim Back-to-Back C Grade Premierships. For the victors, Paul Adams scored 5 goals, including a long range bomb to kick off the second half. Whilst for Flinders both Joanna Lloyd and Amber Gillespie scored 3 goals apiece.

B Grade

The B Grade Grand Final saw a rematch from last years Grand Final, with Flinders, who finished on top of the ladder, taking on Boomers, who finished in second and defeated Arista in the Preliminary Final. These two teams had met three times throughout the season, with Boomers holding a 2-1 advantage, courtesy of victories in Round 1 (17-16) and Round 6 (17-16), with Flinders claiming a victory in Round 11 (31-18).

The game started with Flinders on fire, dominating the first half, racing out to a 10-1 lead, with what looked like everything was going in, long range goals, drop shots everything they touched turned to gold early. Late in the first half Boomers were able to peg 2 goals back, including a buzzer beater, from Mark Hamilton, that saw the teams enter half time with the scores at 10-3. As the second half began, the game turned, Boomers were slowly pegging the way back into it, goal after goal they closed the margin, with the biggest lead of the game at 9, they got it back down to 5, then down to 3, Flinders under immense pressure went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as Boomers kept charging, before they were able to counter with a couple of goals to get back to a 2 goal buffer, then Boomers came back again, levelling the game up at 12 apiece, the next 6 minutes saw some of the most intense Korfball seen this season. Boomers hit the lead, with the scores at 13-12, Flinders on their next attack got the goal straight back, 13-13. The final stages saw the game somehow, raised another level in intensity, with Boomers able to hit the shot to put them ahead in the final minutes, leading 14-13. Flinders then had the ball back, with the crowd on the sidelines and in the stands going crazy, Flinders couldn’t find that equalising goal, and in the last 10 seconds saw a turnover which gave Boomers the ball back and they were able to play out the final seconds to claim a huge comeback victory and exact revenge from last years Grand Final to claim the Premiership 14-13. For the victors Peter Corcoran scored 6, with Mark Hamilton just behind him with 5. For Flinders Jaz Zulfic and Rhys Kubank scored 3 goals apiece.

A Grade

The A Grade Grand Final saw top of the table North take on second placed Arista, in yet another rematch of last years Grand Final. These two teams met four times within the season, with North claiming all 4 games, winning by a combined total of 107- 66.

The game started with North pulling out to a quick 3-1 lead with a couple of their trademark long range goals to get things going, Arista fought back to level the game up as it neared quarter time. The second quarter was a similar affair to the first, however North were ale to pull away late in the piece to take a 2 goal lead into the main break, leading 11-9. The third quarter saw North put their foot down and take control of the game extending their 2 goal lead out to 7 at the end of the quarter. Arista then found their groove, to get the game back within 3 goals, before North’s long range shooting continued to find the middle of the ring as they were able to hold off Arista’s fightback to claim the 2018 A Grade State League Title, and Back-to-Back Premierships, 25-20. For North Daniel Papalia continued his superb shooting form throughout the season on the final day scoring an equal game high 7 goals, just ahead of Brandon Nagy, with 6 goals of his own. For Arista Nik Bungey top scored with 7, just ahead of Zac Marshall with 6.

 

Congratulations

A huge congratulations goes out to Boomers and North on their Grand Final Victories this season, we look forward to next season where they will all become the hunted once again.

A reminder that the KSA Awards night will be held this upcoming Saturday, with all the Award nominees can be found here.

We look forward to seeing you next season for another great State League Season, but keep an eye on the page for all the information for upcoming offseason activities.