by Brittany Carter
The U23s Providoor Premier League has been so hotly contested, that we had to wait until the last round was done to see who would play finals.
The Panthers came home charging and threatened to steal fourth spot from the ERNA Hawks on the same number of wins. But those three frustrating draws in the Hawks’ first half of the season did eventually come in handy for points.
The battle for second place was also rather tight between the UTS Randwick Sparks and Manly Warringah Sapphires. In the end they finished just one win apart.
Joining them in the semi-finals will of course be minor premiers the Sutherland Stingrays, who have set the bar high all season.
It’s the third straight year they’ll play for a shot at the title, which speaks to their consistency.
This means the Qualifying Final is set to take place between Stingrays and Sparks on July 31.
The victor will progress to the grand final and the loser will play the prelim three days later.
Meanwhile, the Elimination Final will also be played between Sapphires and Hawks on July 31.
It’s worth noting that both of these franchises have managed to pull off an impressive double. As their senior teams secured finals berths in the Opens competition too.
Although the rest of the U23s league has been closely fighting it out for ladder position, the Stingrays have been frontrunners for quite some time.
They last etched their name on the trophy back in 2022.
This season, they started strong with a four-game winning streak, before their first loss came in round five to the Panthers, 49-46.
Then they bounced back to experience an 11-game winning streak, before losing their last two rounds of the regular season. The second of these was to the Panthers again, 49-47.
The Panthers appear to have been their bogey team this year, but the good news is that they won’t have to face them again in 2024.
Against the other top-four sides the Stingrays remain undefeated. They also improved their margins against Sparks, Stingrays and Hawks the second time they met.
Stingrays have the best attack and defence in the league, having scored more goals (942) and conceded less goals (751) than anyone else.
The minor premiers will be proud their early work ensured that even when they lost their last two games, they still remarkably sat four points clear in the No.1 spot.
But what do those defeats mean for their confidence? In both matches, they were close with 10 minutes remaining and unable to hold their nerve to close out the game.
That little dip in form will give last year’s runners-up the Sparks a bit of an edge, as they come into the finals with the best momentum.
This is the second year in a row that the Sparks will play finals and they’ve won the U23s title before in 2017 and 2020.
Overall, they’ve had an up and down campaign but are now on a four-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, the Elimination Final should be extremely tight, as the Sapphires and Hawks have each won a game against the other.
Neither of these franchises have won an U23s title before.
Last year the Sapphires were unlucky to miss finals by a single point.
The Hawks, however, have had a huge turnaround in form to go from wooden spooners in 2023 with one win to their name, to finalists in 2024.
Both teams have had a bit of a mixed bag of results and a pattern has emerged for the Sapphires, who only ever seem to lose two games in a row before they bounce back.
That bodes well for them in the semi-finals considering they lost their last two games.
For the Hawks, three draws in the first half of their season cost them crucial points on the ladder, yet they’ll be proud of their fight to hold onto fourth place.
They finished on a high note in the final round with a 15-goal victory.
1 Sutherland Stingrays 30pts
2 UTS Randwick Sparks 26 pts
3 Manly Warringah Sapphires 24 pts
4 ERNA Hawks 23 pts
Providoor Premier League finals start tonight at Netball Central and every centre pass, intercept and goal will be streamed live and on demand via netballnsw.tv. Tickets available here
