The streak is over.
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After 21 long years on top Orange Netball Association (ONA) finally relinquished its mantle as the region’s best, suffering defeat at the hands of Bathurst in Sunday’s Netball NSW Central West Regional League decider at Sir Neville Howse Stadium.
After dominating the preliminary stages of the tournament Orange was stunned by the visiting Bathurst side, which played out of its skin to ultimately seal a 51-43 victory and claim a trophy which, for more than two decades, has almost never looked like leaving the colour city.
The shell-shocked Thunder unit trailed from start to finish and despite throwing everything it had at Bathurst, couldn’t reel in the deficit.
Needless to say, nothing really went to plan for Orange on Sunday.
“Not quite to plan, no” Thunder coach Em Callaway laughed.
“Honestly, Bathurst was just too good for us [on Sunday]. We threw everything at them, we tried a few different combinations and everyone gave 100 per cent the whole game.
“We just couldn’t get over the top of them, Bathurst played really, really well.”
Orange was missing mercurial defensive end players Cheynoah Merchant and Sheryll Selwood and Bathurst took full advantage.
That’s not to say the Thunder defenders were bad though, far from it in fact.
“Our girls played well in that end, very well, Bathurst’s shooters were just unbelievable,” Callaway explained.
“Their shooting was incredible, they just didn’t miss. I think their shooters missed five shots in total, something like that. I’d actually love to see their statistics, it was phenomenal.”
In the central west region, there is nothing that even comes close to Orange’s unprecedented streak.
For context, the longest winning streak in Central West Rugby Union is six, Orange City between 1988 and 1993, and the longest in Group 10 Rugby League history is Oberon’s seven titles between 1961 and 1967.
In short, the Thunder are essentially the region’s equivalent of Black Caviar – except for the fact the mercurial sprinter didn’t lose.
“We’re all realists though, we knew the streak had to come to an end at some point,” Callaway said.
“I’m not making excuses here, Bathurst was the better team, but we’d all acknowledged we’re in a bit of a rebuilding type phase and we’d just hoped we’d be able to scrape through anyway.
“Obviously it wasn’t to be, but the girls were far more positive than I thought they’d be after the loss. They’re all very much looking to next year and how this loss will benefit us.”
Most of those benefits come in the form of the side’s youngsters – the likes of Tara Nagle, Beth Curtin, Em and Lucy Brisbane, Caitlyn Harvey, Abby Tilburg, Cheynoah Merchant and Alice Maier have all gained valuable experience.
On top of that, Callaway said the Thunder’s streak coming to an end may create a more competitive competition in future years.
“We know how hard Bathurst had worked for the win and they deserve it, it’s nice in that respect. For so long, [the non-competitive nature of the competition] was a bit of a joke really,” she said, candidly.
“We’d be beating teams by 30, 40, 50 and no other side would even come close. For the last couple of years we’ve had some real competition and now, obviously we’ve been beaten.
“We’re really hoping a few more associations might stand up and join now, they might look at it and think ‘well, Orange is beatable’.”