Sport
Moama reigns supreme in Three Jacks battle of the birds
Moama has come out on top yet again in the second Three Jacks Trophy meeting of 2025, spurred in part by a solid four-quarter performance by its A-grade side in round nine of Murray Netball League.
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Hosting the Eagles at Moama Recreation Reserve, Moama darted out to a seven-goal advantage in the opening stages of the game.
That quick lead would prove vital for the Magpies, as the two sides couldn’t be split through the middle periods of the game.
Moama got a few goals ahead in the final frame to walk away from the game as an 11-goal victor.
The final score was Moama 45 to Echuca United 34.
Moama A-grade coach Lisa Drysdale praised her side’s ability to start strongly and its tenacity to hold on to a hard-fought lead and win the game.
“We jumped out of the blocks really well and we were damn lucky to get an early lead because we were even in the second and third quarters,” she said.
“It has been something we have focused on a lot at training, so it was nice to see that pay off and put us in good stead to maintain control over the ball and the game.”
Drysdale acknowledged the irony of seeing a lot of past Moama players suiting up for Echuca United, which she believed contributed to a close match.
“It was funny to see all the familiar faces on the Echuca United side that have played in the black and white before,” she said.
“It definitely made for an even contest because a lot of us have trained together and played together, so both teams know how the other plays.”
Finally, Drysdale highlighted some of her players she thought played well in the match and was happy to contribute to the overall retention of the Three Jacks Trophy.
“Tazarni Clarke really stood out for us in wing defence and the movement in our attack end with Hannah Richards, Steph Sarro and Indi Phillips was great too,” she said.
“It's great to be able to contribute to the club’s success, we knew it wasn’t just a team performance for the day.”
For United coach Krystal Burns, it was a sluggish shooting start that doomed her side, the Eagles mostly matching the Magpies through the rest of the contest.
Burns was happy with her side’s performance overall against last season’s grand finalists.
“We've got a really young cohort,” she said.
“(It was a) big stage, lots of people, lots of hype around the game too, so I think it's just trying to learn to steady at the start rather than taking a quarter to get into the momentum of it, but overall, it was a really great game of netball.
“It was super competitive and that's been my aim throughout the year, to make sure we play some really strong competitive netball, which I think we did, we just probably weren't able to capitalise at the start.”
Burns had particular praise for her defensive group, with junior prospect Coby Morgan performing well.
“Coby Morgan was outstanding for us, she played our defensive end, and she had a really tough job,“ Burns said.
“Both Indi Phillips and Steph Sarro shot really well.
“They're quite tall and defensively, Coby and Liv Bish played beautifully, but Coby was definitely by far our best netballer on the day.”
Echuca United has been through a difficult run of fixtures, this week’s game against Mulwala to complete a run where the Eagles have played each of the league’s current top five in consecutive games.
It was a well-contested set of Three Jacks netball fixtures across the grades.
Moama also prevailed in 15-and-under (42-14) and 13-and-under (35-15).
Meanwhile, Echuca United scored wins in B-grade (35-31), C-reserve (39-27) and 17-and-under (55-34).
The C-grade sides played out a 40-all draw.