Is 2024 the year of the copycat?
Mooroopna’s 17-and-under side sure hopes so.
After felling a star-studded Shepparton side in the 2023 Goulburn Valley League grand final, the Cats are tasked with going back-to-back — this time against a different local rival.
Mooroopna meets Shepparton Swans in Sunday’s 17-and-under decider with a chance to stamp its mark as a true pacesetter in the eldest of the league’s junior grades.
And following a week’s rest as the highest ranked qualifier, coach Bree Hanslow has no reservations her side is amped for the occasion.
“We’ve obviously had the week off and we were able to watch the game last week between the Bears and Swans, and Swans ended up winning that one convincingly,” she said.
“We’re excited, we’re also pretty composed as to how we’re heading into the game.
“It’ll be a tough game against the Swannies; we’ve had really close encounters against them at every hit-out this year, so we’re looking forward to a really good game I suppose.”
It’s true — each clash between the Cats and Swans has been tight.
No game has blown out past a margin of 14 goals, but each time the girls in blue have walked off the court victorious.
That was the story of 2023 too, though Hanslow did make note that only one Cat from last year’s premiership side — dual-talent Claudia Plattfuss — currently resides in Mooroopna’s current 17-and-under outfit.
“While it’s a very different team, there’s a fair few in there who played in the under-15 grand final last year so they’ve obviously got that experience that they’ll bring into the game as well which is fantastic,” she said.
“We’ve probably got some slightly different strategies to last year, but as a club we’re relatively consistent with our style of play.
“All in all, it’s a team who really enjoys playing netball... they’re just really keen to get out there and play a really great game of netball.
“Essentially it’s going out there and wanting to play 60 minutes of solid netball, and breaking that down into each quarter as we go and not getting too far ahead of ourselves.”
Win or lose on Sunday, it’s hard to deny Mooroopna is teeming with talent.
The club’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic has been like a rocket, and on the netball court, a dynasty seems to be slowly but surely crystallising at the Cats.
“What’s great from a junior perspective, it’s been a couple of years in a row now that we’ve had teams go deep into finals and make grand finals,” Hanslow said.
“Our juniors are really growing that culture of expecting to be heading deep into September which is probably a little bit different to what the club has seen for quite some time.
“I think that’s the exciting part, we’re building from the bottom up over at Mooroopna at the moment.”