Considering their dominance through the opening two months of the Orange Netball Association Toyota Cup season Life Studio was starting to look as close to an unbeatable side as the West Orange Motors Senior Competitions' top flight has seen in recent years.
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Then the second-placed defending premiers, Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical, did what was beginning to seem impossible and knocked them off, by 11 goals to boot.
The Lions' victory throws a cat among the pigeons in an exciting 2019 league in a way, and certainly congests the ladder heading into competition's three-week, mid-season break, the second half of the season begins on Saturday, July 20.
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Orange City are now within a win of the competition-leading navy and lime bibs and there's only four points separating first and fourth, with Life Studio Mid West Eyes and Life Studio Sportspower just two points further back as well.
"That win means nothing in terms of what happens in September but it does prove we can do it, but obviously they've proven they can too so Life Studio is definitely still the benchmark," Orange City coach Cindy Gilchrist said.
"They've lifted that benchmark too, everyone has. The quality of netball has improved out of sight it's a really interesting, exciting competition.
"Looking at it, when OHS (Hornets) put it together they can beat anyone, if (Orange Physiotherapy) Vipers put four quarters together look out, Life Studio Sportspower stretched us last week and are an amazing little team, Hawks (Royals) are rebuilding but there's a lot of talent there.
That win means nothing in terms of what happens in September but it does prove we can [beat Life Studio].
- Orange City CHM coach Cindy Gilchrist
"Everyone is like that, honestly it's just about who can get that consistency in the second half of the season I think."
It was consistency across four quarters that sparked the defending premiers' landmark, 49-38 victory win over Life Studio on the weekend too.
Both sides had the bare minimum seven players - Orange City were missing boom shooters Kristin Zinga and Katelin Eslick while Life were without player-coach Mardi Aplin - and with fatigue hitting in the second half it became a battle of which side would blink first.
Orange City led at the first break before Life Studio took a two-goal into half-time, the Lions edging ahead by two goals themselves come three-quarter-time. In the fourth quarter, it was Life Studio that blinked first, Orange City eventually running away with it in the final term.
"With both sides missing their main shooters it was really even, a really level playing field," Gilchrist said.
"It was an incredible game. It was a grand final-standard game, but there's no getting ahead of ourselves and calling it a potential grand final preview by any means, it was a real test for both sides though.
"Without Zing and Katelin we moved Catie Harvey from the defensive end up to shooter, which I'd had in the back of my head as an option anyway, and she was absolutely outstanding.
"We were left wanting a little bit the week before against Life Studio Sportspower, they really stretched us but it felt like something didn't quite click. It did on the weekend, hopefully we can keep clicking in the back end of the season."
In Saturday's other round eight results OHS Hornets downed Sportspower (40-35), Vipers beat Hawks (58-39) and Life Studio Mid West Eyes knocked off Orange City Epiroc (54-36).
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
