Fusion Heat cemented its status as one of the best sides in any sport across Dubbo on Saturday when capturing a fourth successive Rawson Homes Premiership A Grade premiership.
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A fast-starting Heat needed all their experience and quality to get past a previously unbeaten Fusion Fire in the decider at the Nita McGrath courts.
Heat went into the match having not beaten Fire this year while they were also again without injured captain Tash Robinson.
But Heat put up a stiff defensive wall, marshalled by Britt Hill, to deny Fire chances and scored a 56-41 win,
Hill and Khyarne Biles were immense in defence and never allowed Fire to get consistent ball to star shooter Abbie Merritt.
While Merritt and the Fire were the first to open up the scoring in the final, the Heat quickly struck back, with Ally McLean leading the way in attack for Heat throughout the win.
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"It's all about having a good team there to feed it to you," McLean said after the grand final triumph.
"It's one thing to get the ball in, but having a great team around you to get it down the court is huge."
The H led 16-10 after the first quarter and maintained their advantage in the second.
Biles, a Dubbo Netball Association regular, returned to the Heat side mid-last year and was not surprised at all to see the side captured a fourth title.
"To see the girls develop over the last four years, they've been absolute standouts," she said, celebrating a second title with the side.
"But to go on and win it four years in a row, I don't think I can think of any other local sporting team that's done that.
"It's a great team to be a part of. We're always supportive of each other no matter what; win, draw or lose."
Thanks to the all-around defensive efforts of the side, the Heat managed keep the lead at the end of the second quarter, with the scores sitting at 29-21 in their favour despite a late surge from the Fire.
Payton Reynolds and Abbie Merritt came out firing in the game's third stanza, with the unbeaten Fire's mid-court combinations working hard to bring the ball back to where it was needed.
The score narrowed to just four points in the third quarter, with the Fire making up plenty of ground to bring the scores to 38-34 heading into the final term.
The exertion of keeping pace with the Heat's defensive wall caused plenty of headaches for the unbeaten Fire in the fourth quarter, with their hopes for a premiership title dashed as the bulk of the possession remained with their rivals.
The final margin was 15 points and while the pain of a grand final defeat was obvious, Fire's Bec Weekes said she was proud of the effort her side had put in through the season.
"To get through undefeated in the regular rounds is huge for us, it's such a big result for the girls and I couldn't be prouder," Weekes said.
While the Fire weren't able to bring the talents of Merritt and Reynolds into consistent use during the last quarter, Weekes was still grateful for the huge contributions made by the combination throughout the season.
"We knew we had to keep the ball with us and they knew they had to keep it away from Abbie," she added.
"I think just in that fourth quarter we were a little bit more tired, which cost us in the end, but we had it within four points at the end of the third, that was a huge result and we just didn't finish strong enough."