The 2024 Hunter and Central Coast Regional League is the pinnacle competition for the region and took place on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March at Niagara Park Stadium. With 250 athletes in 23 teams from across the Hunter and Central Coast Region, representing 13 Associations across 4 Divisions, we saw the best quality netball played with multiple games decided by 1 or 2 points. 32 Umpires officiated 122 games, while 30 Coaches and 23 Managers tapped into their knowledge of netball and experience to guide the teams over the weekend.
Division 1 Results
In a Division with the 6 best Opens teams in the Region, no one knew who would win. Each game being played goal for goal and teams beating some in the first round only to be bested by the same team in the second round. Most games finished within points of each other. After playing 10 games each, the top 4 teams all finished on the same ladder points, again showing us it was anyone’s competition to win. Both Semi Finals finished within 3 points of each other with nail biting games. Woy Woy 24 v Newcastle 21 and Maitland 24 v Gosford 23.
The Grand Final match between Woy Woy and Maitland did not disappoint! Another game that was goal for goal and equal points at the full time siren. During extra time Woy Woy managed to pull away and won the match 32 to 28 to be crowned our Regional League Division 1 Champions for 2024.
Division 2 Results
Division 2 was made up of 5 teams, mainly Opens with a strong Newcastle 17U team included.
The Newcastle 17U team remained undefeated over the 10 round games with Westlakes Opens and Cessnock Opens battling it out for 2nd place on the ladder and eventually playing off against each other for a spot in the Grand Final. Semi finals game saw Westlakes 25 v Cessnock 18 and Newcastle 30 v Singleton 11.
The Grand Final match between Newcastle and Westlakes saw the young Newcastle team remain the only undefeated over the entire competition with a 32 to 16 win over Westlakes.
Division 3 Results
Division 3 was another closely fought competition throughout the weekend between six 17U teams. We had the top 4 teams all within 4 points of each other after playing 10 games each. The semi finals results saw Lakeside 24 v Callaghan 20 and Gosford 22 v Cessnock 13.
After a delayed start to the Grand Final from the Division 1 extra time game, we all thought the same thing was about to happen again with the teams within 1 point of each other the whole game. After an intense weekend of tough games it was the Gosford team who came out the winners 20 to 19 against Lakeside.
Division 4 Results
Another Division of 6 teams, made up of five 17U teams and Newcastle’s third team entered. With the ladder a bit more spread out at the end of 10 games each, the top two teams Newcastle and Westlakes looked to be heading to the Grand Final. The semi final results were Newcastle 43 v Charlestown 21 and after winning a game each against each other during the rounds, it was the Kurri Kurri team winning the decider with Kurri Kurri 22 v Westlakes 17.
The Grand Final match saw a valiant effort by both teams, with Newcastle playing the entire competition with 8 players victorious over Kurri Kurri 27 to 15.
The Hunter and Central Coast Region’s Team White signalled 4395 goals scored over the weekend. Our Regional Allocations Team of Monique Smith (Head), Kath Styant and Alex Brown allocated and mentored the 32 umpires that took part in the competition.
Our grand final umpires were:
Division 1: Peta Ingall and Ellie Taylor, Reserve Leearna Bennett
Division 2: Zara Morris and Ella Young, Reserve Yasmin Alexander
Division 3: Lauren Charlton and Ella Sames, Reserve Zaara Alexander
Division 4: Rachael Corban and Emily Milton, Reserve Mia Squires
Chris Lindus from Maitland Myotherapy and Sports Injuries held our players and umpires together for the weekend.
During our Regional League Competition a team of the best 12 players are selected from the registered athletes aged between 16 – 22 to represent the Hunter and Central Coast Region against teams from 6 other Regions in NSW at the Regional State Cup at Netball Central in October. The Hunter and Central Coast team are currently reining champs from 2022 and 2023.
Over 155 eligible athletes opted to be viewed for the team and selectors had a difficult time selecting from the quality athletes playing in the Regional League Competition.
Jade Nicholl (Head RSC Coach) and Kirsten Latter (Assistant RSC Coach) will lead the team at the Regional State Cup with Sam Rumbel as Team Manager.
Thank you to all athletes for an amazing weekend of netball to watch, the coaches and managers for your tireless efforts, the Associations for your support and work behind the scenes getting the teams to the event, the Regional Allocations Team and Team White for your control of the games, Chris Lindus for keeping everyone healthy, Niagara Park Stadium and staff for the excellent venue and looking after us all, Kath Styant for preparing the venue, Sam Rumbel and Kylie Henderson for helping run the Regional League event and to the parents and spectators who brought the athletes and the atmosphere. It was a fantastic weekend of high quality netball!
Kirsten Clarke
Netball NSW Hunter and Central Coast Regional Manager
