2023 HFNL grand final: South Warrnambool goes back-to-back in open netball

Goal attack Annie Blackburn, who was best on court in the Roosters' gritty 47-41 grand final win against Cobden at Reid Oval on Saturday, September 23, said Will Jamison's impact at Friendly Societies' Park could not be underestimated.

"I don't know where to start with Will - he is the best coach I've ever had," she told The Standard.

"He is so dedicated and I think he downplays how busy he is. He has a child at home and he travels back and forth to Melbourne (for work) and he still makes us a priority, so I will always be grateful for that.

"His netball brain is just incredible and he's made us all better netballers and me in particular, he's taken my game to another level."

Jamison himself was more comfortable praising his players.

"It is something I am really proud of but we have to contribute the success to the team because they're the ones that work really hard, they're the ones on the court doing it," he said.

"I am really proud of the group and really proud of the growth and development a lot of them have had over the two years."

South Warrnambool went into the contest favourite and, after the two teams went goal-for-goal early, found itself in front at every change.

It was a physical contest with players spilling onto the court as they fought for the ball.

The Bombers - playing in their fourth grand final in the past four completed seasons - weren't to be denied and gave the Roosters a late scare.

They clawed their way back from a double-figure deficit midway through the fourth term to slice the margin to four goals at one point.

Jamison was rapt with his players' ability to absorb the pressure.

"I am feeling good now - I had some nerves before," he said.

"More than anything I am just really proud of the group, they were gritty today and not everything went our way so to come away with the win is exciting."

The Roosters broke a long-standing netball premiership drought in 2022.

Jamison said to add another flag 12 months later was surreal.

"This one while we were maybe expected to do well, there was a lot more riding on this one, or I definitely felt there was a lot more pressure around it," he said.

"Credit to Cobden, I thought they were a much stronger outfit this year than last year so we definitely had to rise again.

"It is fitting we played Cobden in such a tight game because we've had a great rivalry with them the last two years and we have a lot of respect for them so we were happy to see them here today."

South Warrnambool had players step up in the heat of the contest which pleased Jamison.

"I think what we did well was we reacted when they did come back at us," he said.

"We changed up what we were doing and adjusted the way we played so that we didn't let their momentum go on for too long.

"I thought we were composed when we needed to be."

Jamison praised Isabella Rea "who did a huge amount of work through the midcourt".

"She helped bring the ball through transition given Cobden were playing that really strong zone," he said.

"I thought everyone was really good today, were really gritty, dug in and got the job done."

Cobden coach Sophie Hinkley, who spent five minutes on the court with her injured calf bandaged, gave an impressive and heartfelt speech post game.

The experienced leader, when speaking to The Standard, was full of praise for her side's ability to keep backing up despite now falling short in four grand finals.

"I am really proud. I think this year South took it up another notch and we knew, and probably everyone knew, that we had things stacked against us today," she said.

"Our aim was of course to win but have a really competitive game - if we were going to lose, we wanted to go down fighting and that was what the girls did.

"Instead of being down 10 goals and letting it run out to 20, which it can against South, the girls just showed so much courage."

Hinkley was thrilled with the Bombers' ability to get control of the momentum late.

"It is a really hard thing to do when you've been down all day, that does take a lot of bravery," she said.

She spent a short burst on the court after a serious leg injury in the preliminary final dented her chances of playing.

"I felt like my whole leg was in full cramp for my five minutes - my calf felt fine, it was just every other muscle in my body was compensating for it," she said.

"For me it was just wanting to have that chance to see if I could help in anyway."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: