The 2021 NFNL winter netball season kicked off on Friday night, marking the long-awaited return of the competition.
With a record 97 teams registered for the 2021 season, the season-opening night featured 48 matches, played across four venues.
This included 30 matches across six courts at the league’s newest venue, La Trobe Sports Stadium.
The state-of-art venue has hosted matches over the past two summer seasons, but finally held matches in the winter season for the very first time – with the commencement delayed due to the cancelled 2020 winter campaign.
Other venues included RMIT University, Mernda Park Primary School and Mernda Central College.
The Round 1 matches were the first in the four-round grading process, with all teams competing in the same pool for the opening month of the season.
A highlight of the opening night was five matches being decided by one goal.
Kilmore had two teams record wins by the smallest possible margin.
Kilmore 2 defeated South Morang 1 in a thriller at RMIT University, with the final score 27-26, while Kilmore 4 was on the right end of a 30-29 scoreline against Thomastown 4 at Mernda Park Primary School.
While Kilmore enjoyed success in the close contests, it was a night of heartache for Thomastown, who endured two defeats by one goal.
The Bears went down to the Blues in the aforementioned match at Mernda Park Primary School, while in the match directly prior Thomastown 3 fell to Watsonia 3 in a thriller that ended 26-25.
The other one-goal matches in Round 1 saw North Heidelberg 2 prevail over Ivanhoe 2 in a 32-31 result, while Bundoora 5 just ousted Montmorency 4 in a match that finished 27-26.
It wasn’t the only thriller played out by the Bulls and Magpies on the night, with Montmorency 1 squaring the ledger between the two clubs with a 27-25 triumph over Bundoora 1 at La Trobe Sports Stadium.
Bundoora has entered a league-high nine teams for the winter competition, with the opening night bringing a mixed bag of results for the club. Of the Bulls’ nine sides that took to the court, four recorded victories, while five suffered defeats.
All-conquering Diamond Creek 1 returned to action in style.
Having claimed the past ten Section 1 premierships, the Creekers made a winning start in their first game back on the NFNL courts since 2019 – comfortably accounting for Ivanhoe 1 by 20 goals in a 44-24 victory.
The triumph was the sole win on the night for Diamond Creek’s five teams, however it was a major statement against a young Ivanhoe side which will be one of the competition’s brightest sides in 2021.
The highest-scoring match of the opening round was played out between Fitzroy Stars 1 and North Heidelberg 1. The two highly-fancied teams played out a goalfest, with the Stars – the 2020-21 Section 1 Summer premiers – claiming a seven-goal win, 41-34.
Whittlesea enjoyed a perfect start to the year, with all three of the club’s teams winning their opening-round matches in style. The Eagles’ average winning margin on the night was a whopping 24 goals across the three games.
Reservoir also made a promising start – with the Mustangs’ two teams victorious by margins of 35 and 26 goals.
It was also a successful start to the season for Kilmore. As well as having two sides prevail by a single goal, the Blues notched victories in six of their seven matches on the night – with its six highest-ranked sides all starting the 2021 season with a victory.
The second round of the 2021 NFNL Winter Netball season will be played this Friday April 23.
Fixtures will be released early in the week, with grading to continue for the next three rounds.
For all the match results from Round 1, please visit www.nfnl.org.au/nfnl-netball-fixture-results-ladders
