TWO players could not be separated when Golden Rivers Netball League best and fairest accolades were determined.
Nullawil goal defence Mollie Quin and Macorna defender Alice Blow tied for the GRNL A Grade best and fairest title with 21 umpires’ votes.
Another defender, Murrabit player Noni McClure was three votes behind.
Both winners were adjudged best on court in four games, with the Macorna player receiving three two-votes and three single votes and Nullawil’s winner scoring four two-votes and a single one-vote, however, McClure was best on court on five occasions, but polled votes in only two other games.
Quin said that she was “definitely surprised” to poll so well.
“Every player in our team is ridiculously talented, so I thought players would take votes away from each other,” she said.
“Some of the other girls will be dark on me.”
The 22-year-old speech pathology student was on work placement at Ballarat and watched the count streaming live.
“I got quite a shock when I was up there [with votes], but I felt like I was there,” she said.
“The girls rang me with a couple of rounds to play and put me on Facetime, so that was good.”
This is the defender’s second season with the Maroons after playing for Swan Hill since she was a junior.
She regards determination as an attribute that may have caught the attention of umpires.
“I like to scrap for the ball and I suppose I have a good jump.”
The Maroons champion also scored three votes in each of two games in B Grade.
Blow – who is Macorna’s goal defence – attributes her netball skills to agility and said that she followed the Tigers’ mantra of “fast and fearless.”
“Our forwards had a lot of competition, so I was probably helped like that,” she said.
Her netball involvement started as a 10-year-old at Parkes in New South Wales. She advanced to become part of the State’s Dynamo Squad before joining Macorna three years ago.
“I coached the first year because I was pregnant and this is the second year playing,” she said.
Her team is not in finals contention, but she has enjoyed the team development during the season and as a young mother working alongside her husband on their 230-cow dairy farm she enjoyed the break from the farm that netball provides.
