THE final round of Mixed Premier Division finished with a bang, with a few close encounters and one forfeit throwing a real spanner in the works as we head into finals. Parkville Panthers had a final round bye to finish the season undefeated and head into finals on fresh legs next week, while second-ranked Geelong Cougars well and truly ran down St Therese with a 35 goal victory (73-38). Safe in third with no chance of moving down the ladder, Pasifika Sharks handed Eastside Sonics a forfeit, and in doing so, all but denied the Sonics a chance of leaping into the top four off the back of a Valley Wolves loss. Fortunately, the Valley Wolves came away with a seven-goal victory over Melbourne City Blackhawks (54-47) to lock in a semi-finals spot next week and deny the Sonics an outside chance of playing finals.

A final round loss to NNE Vipers denied DDNA an opportunity to leapfrog into the top four, going down by two goals (47-49) with the Vipers turning the tables on their Round 5 loss. It was a second quarter blitz from the Vipers that saw them run away with their fifth victory for the season, shooting 17 goals to nine to jump ahead after a slow first quarter and lead by five goals at the main break. While the second half was relatively even with both sides finding patches of momentum, a dominant third quarter from DDNA’s Josh Smith and Ellen Hurley turned the tides once more, with the pair leading from the front to put DDNA ahead by just one goal heading into the final term. A change-up in attack for the Vipers in the last quarter seemed to spark the side into action once more, with Jessica Lallo donning the goal attack bib after playing out majority of the match in wing attack, while Alex Green took a chance in goal shooter. Combining for 14 goals in the final quarter, the pair added something different to the likes of Michael Dower and Bridget Ryan who held down the fort for the first three quarters, shooting 19 and 16 goals respectively before handing over the reins. Similarly, Christian White joined the fray for the first time in the final quarter in at goal shooter, shooting 11 straight goals but unfortunately not enough against a fighting Vipers side. Defensively, both sides kept the ball moving through the middle third, denying ease of access to the goal circle and picking up loose ball credit to an impressive read of play. For DDNA, Steffi Poort and Simone Turner switched it up rotating through wing defence and goal keeper, while Daniel King was prolific in goal defence especially in the third quarter, picking off feeds into the circle. Vipers’ Ben Bruitzman put in the hard yards through the midcourt, playing out majority of the match in centre, working well with Dionne Douglas, Sam Dugan and Jessica Maher to speed the ball out of defence and back through to attack.