Sport
12 September, 2025
MCDFNL Netball Grand Final Preview: Avoca vs Talbot
It’s a battle between team destiny and team dynasty in the A grade grand final as the underdogs Talbot look to snap their 31-year premiership drought against an Avoca team determined to cement themselves as one of the greatest teams in MCDFNL history.
While they have reached the same destination, the journey the Bulldogs and the Hawks took to reach the season finale has been vastly different.
For a little more than half a decade, winning has virtually become second nature for Avoca, currently boasting a remarkable 51-game winning streak and proud owners of three of the last four premierships.
After a surprise early exit in 2022, the Bulldogs went back-to-back by defeating Carisbrook in 2023 and vanquishing Natte Bealiba in 2024, and are now in touching distance of a three-peat with an almost unchanged cast of extremely talented netballers.
Lockdown defenders Keisha Tonzing and Caitlin Drummond, ultra-experienced midcourters Stacey Blair and Lucy Howell as well as sharpshooters Maddy Egan and Gina Beavis is the nucleus which has dominated the league in recent years.
In a team already stacked with ability, the addition of 2025 Nalder Tracey Trophy winner Faith McKenzie has made Avoca look even more unstoppable, with her stunning intercepts in the midcourt boosting the Bulldogs to the best defence in the league, conceding on average 36 goals a game during the home and away season.
According to Avoca player-coach Egan, the team’s preparation doesn’t change ahead of the grand final.
“We’re pretty superstitious so we try to prepare the same way every week,” she said.
“We know we have got to work hard, we can’t take anything easily, we have got to cherish every intercept, every turnover and make every goal count.
“(Talbot) have got some tough defenders and physical midcourters, they are pretty experienced from Learmonth and Ballarat so will have to be smart with the ball.”
While Avoca were celebrating their 2023 premiership, Talbot was at one of its lowest points. The salvation of their first finals win since their 1994 premiership or finals appearance in over a decade seemed to be a distant pipedream with two wins in their last two seasons.
That notion is well and truly shattered now, as the Hawks have stunningly soared into a finals contender under the tutelage of player-coach Eleisha Phelps.
Despite making a fairy tale run to the preliminary final in 2024, where they were emphatically stopped by Avoca, there were serious question marks surrounding the Hawks heading into 2025 with several key players unavailable.
Talbot answered those questions with a 10-6 record, but were an outside chance to repeat their preliminary final berth after finishing just outside the top four.
However, these Hawks seem to thrive during finals. After taking care of Newstead in the elimination final, Talbot upset the Maryborough Giants and Carisbrook to make it to the big dance.
“Coming from fifth to be in the grand final is pretty awesome — hopefully it’s a really good game and we can get over the line,” Talbot player-coach Phelps said.
“I don’t think there is any expectation for us, so we just want to go out there and play our best netball.
“The finals atmosphere is absolutely amazing. The club community really supports us, having them on the sidelines and hearing them cheer is wonderful.
“We will probably try and shut down the ball from getting into their goal circle, maintain that defensive pressure like we did against the Giants and Carisbrook and hopefully try and get the lead first up.”
Unlike their grand final opponents, a host of recruits have taken Talbot to the next level this season.
Loren Aquilina and Shianne Milera have been the engine in the midcourt, Melissa Scott and Jess White have anchored a noticeably improved defence and the Costello’s, Elenoa and Jane have been some of the Hawks best performers.
These two teams met twice in the home and away season, with the Bulldogs winning both encounters, a commanding 25-goal win in round two and a hard-fought round 15 encounter by 16 goals.
Egan and Beavis displayed lights out shooting in both encounters, including a combined 90 percent conversion rate in round 15, signifying Phelps’ intention for her team to limit the service to the dynamic duo.
White and Jane Costello will likely be tasked with marking Egan and Beavis in the goal circle, while the defensive prowess of Scott, Aquilina, Abbey Klemm and Tina Wardlaw will try and cut the telepathic connection of McKenzie, Blair and Howell in the midcourt.
Another key factor in this match is how the Bulldogs will try to contain Milera, who can dictate the tempo of a game from wing attack and is the predominant avenue for Phelps and Elenoa Costello to receive the ball.
With Tonzing and Drummond likely occupied with Talbot’s dangerous shooters, Blair or Howell will likely start marking Milera, with the option of shifting McKenzie to wing defence if Milera gets rolling early.