NETBALL: Marist set to keep it in-house for final

The Whangarei Netball Premier Grade grand final will be an all-Marist affair after Marist 1 and Marist Combined rolled their opposition in highly contested semifinals.
Eve Barton, coach of both last year's premiers Marist Combined as well as 2009's frontrunners Marist 1 said she was looking forward to a stress-free final, enjoying quality netball from the two sides.
"It was my goal to get them both to the final and we've achieved that now," she said.
The coach insisted she would be sticking her foot in it if she were to predict an outcome to this Friday's grand final encounter but said the winner would be whichever team was the most passionate about doing the business on the day.
During Friday night's semifinals, second-placed Marist Combined showed huge passion when they crushed third  place-getters Fideliter 1, 55-39.
"It was pretty much one way traffic for Combined and Fideliter had no answer," Barton said.
Goal shoot Nicky Taylor was outstanding and together with goal attack Rose Parker shot with 80 per cent accuracy rate, Barton said.
The game  provided a good  opportunity to give all players court-time as it was such a one-sided affair, Barton said.
Marist 1's semifinal clash with Whangarei Girls' High School was a lot closer and while Marist 1 dominated most facets of the game to win 41-36, the usually highly reliable  shooter Althena Birch could not put the shots away, the coach said.
From 63 shots at goal, Marist 1  scored 41 points. Aside from poor shooting, the rest of their play was great, particularly in the midcourt where Marist's Jayne Southee battled it out with the schoolgirls' centre Sian Telfer.
Southee teaches at WGHS and taught her students a lesson so to speak with her dominant display, Barton said.
The two Marist teams were the best performers in the competition this year and deserved to be playing in this Friday's final, Barton said.
"The final will be a close tussle - last time the two teams played it was really close and it will be a similar story this week," she said.
Last week, Marist 1 narrowly defeated Marist Combined 48-46 to go through to the semis in the top position on the ladder.
Marist 1 will play Marist Combined at Kensington Stadium on Friday  at 7.45pm while third-placed Fideliter 1 will play WGHS in a third and fourth playoff at 6pm.
Whangarei Old Boys  beat Fideliter Development 58-48, along with Manawanui, who defeated Takahiwai 62-45.
Old Boys and Manawanui will play off for fifth and sixth at Kamo High School on Thursday at 6.15pm, while Takahiwai and Fideliter Development will tussle for the two bottom rungs at Kamo at 7.30pm.