The Orange Netball Association Toyota Cup grand final was always going to be a heart-wrenching one for Tegan Dray.
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The coach of the winning Orange High School Hornets side and the centre for the losing Orange City side was let "a bit lost for words" after the final buzzer confirmed the students' one-point win.
Dray, who played in the first of 12 titles for the Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical side in 2008, played the first quarter for City before sitting on the Hornets' bench and calling the shots there.
She warmed up in an Orange High shirt over her Orange City gear, and addressed the Hornets before the game before jumping across to the opposition bench, coming back after quarter time as Maddie Cole put on the centre bib for the defending champions.
She said her subbing out had been planned in advance.
"It was always game planned. We'd spoken about it and that was what was going to happen," Dray said.
"There were a number of different reasons, I'm a part of both teams and it's hard to split your time both ways."
She was overwhelmed at the final siren as her charges came from behind to snare an incredible win.
"I was actually hoping for extra time, I wanted to see who could keep going for another 15 minutes to tell you the truth but I'm sure there's lots of people who are quite happy not having overtime," Dray said.
"It's amazing for the Hornets. I'm very, very proud of how hard they've been working over the past few years and yeah, we've had a shortened season but this has been the same team for two years and a lot of them have played together for a long time now."
She paid homage to her teammates on the other side of the ledger, who were left devastated by the loss to the team they'd spent most of 2020 training with and passing experience onto.
"My heart goes out to my Orange City team, they're our sisters," she said.
"Could have gone either way. I said to these guys I just wanted a great game and one goal, that was a great game.
"I'm really, really pleased for them and really grateful we've got such a strong competition here in Orange."
The defensive game was something Dray rated from both side.
"The fact [the score] is in the 30s demonstrates how great the defence was from both teams. It could have gone either way at any time."
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