Victoria produced an epic performance in the Marie Little Shield grand final to defeat the reigning champions and be crowned 2023 winners.
The competition gives female athletes with an intellectual disability the chance to represent their state or territory with this year’s event hosted by Waverley Netball Centre thanks to our official event host partner Visit Victoria.
Victorian captain Rachael Potter, who carved up the midcourt and controlled play in centre, was ecstatic with the win.
“It feels bloody amazing,” she said.
But there were plenty of incredible match ups throughout the entire weekend.
Here's how the tournament played out.
DAY ONE
Victoria (VIC) secured their first win of the competition 26-8 against a lively South Australian side (SA). Western Australia (WA) won their clash against the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) 38 goals to one. To round out the first session of the day New South Wales (NSW) came out strongly against Queensland (QLD) to win 47 goals to three.
The second round of competition began with the Northern Territory (NT) hitting the court for their first game with a match up against ACT. The NT side won 15 goals to three. While that was happening over on the next court SA recorded their first win with a 27-goal victory over QLD. NSW then defeated WA 34 goals to three.
NSW put out a strong performance against WA.The last round of the day started with NSW recording another win with a 54-goal victory against ACT. VIC added another win to their tally with a 31 to three win against WA. NSW then finished the day defeating the NT side by 19 goals.
DAY TWO
VIC, NSW and SA started day two strongly recording convincing wins over ACT, WA and NT.
Fresh off a bye, the QLD side tried their best against VIC but the Victorians were too powerful for their opposition once again. NSW defeated NT 40 goals to two. Closing out Round 4 SA were pushed by WA but the South Australians were dominant winning by eight goals.
WA secured their second win in a clash against QLD while SA got their fourth and VIC continued on their undefeated trot.
NSW also continued an unbeaten streak as they defeated SA 33 to 12. A tight tussle between QLD and NT resulted in a six-goal victory to the Queenslanders while VIC defeated ACT 35 to 13.
QLD defeated NT in a close match. DAY THREE
The final day of competition started with WA defeating NT by 19 goals while NSW put an end to the Victorians’ winning streak with a nine-goal win. QLD recorded a 15-goal win against the ACT while SA had a bye before heading into the placing matches.
The two best teams of the weekend NSW and VIC went head-to-head in the grand final to determine the 2023 champions.
It was a close contest with VIC able to turn around their previous result against their opponents defeating NSW by eight goals to lift the Marie Little Shield.
SA faced off against WA and claimed third with a 17-goal win against the WA side. QLD claimed fifth defeating WA by 14 goals while ACT finished in seventh place following a weekend of great netball.
