Region Seven: North Coast

Held at Port Macquarie Indoor Stadium, saw 14 teams from compete over 3 divisions in the North Coast Regional Leauge.  Teams from Woolgoolga, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca Valley, Macleay, Hastings Valley, Manning Valley and Great Lakes were represented. 

Divison Three. 
Made up of mainly 17s teams, games were close in most of the round games. The Macleay 17s went through the round games undefeated, with outstanding shooting from Roxy Hofman, and supberb defence by Issy Koivu.  Macleay 17’s Grand Final opponents Coffs Harbour 17s had a tumultuous weekend, losing their starting Centre, Ava Wooley, to an ACL injury on Saturday afternoon.  Whilst spirits somewhat deflated, coaches Sarah and Maddy managed to get the girls up after two heavy losses on Sunday morning, to start their winning ways in the last round game, then going on to  defeat Great Lakes in their Semi Final.  Leading by 6 points at half time, the Coffs girls kept Macleay at bay during the second half, finishing with a 24-19 win in the Grand Final. 

Divison Two. 
Having played each other three times over the weekend prior to finals, Macleay Opens finished on top of the ladder, with 2 wins and 1 loss to Grand Final Opponents Manning Valley Red, who finished in 2nd place on the ladder. 
Both teams won comfortably to gain their Grand Final place.  Manning Valley Red extended a 6 point lead at half time to win 27-16.  Manning Valley Red were very proud of their average player age of 38 years as mentioned in their acceptance speech when receiving their Winners Trophy and patches. 

Division One.  
Hastings Valley, with two stand in coaches, had a very slow start to the weekend, having to wait until late on Saturday to taste victory in the round games.   Bellingen Opens started strong, and finished on top of the ladder after the round games.   After meeting each other twice, Bellingen taking the chocolates in one game, and a 20 all draw in the other, the Bellingen team started as favourites in the Grand Final.  However, with Hastings Valley’s narrow 2 point win over the youthful superstars of Coffs Harbour in their Semi Final, this spurred them on to keep fighting in a high quality, fast paced Grand Final, taking the win by 3 points, 21-18. 

Community Engagement Manager - Gill Cotter