Hawks Netball has marked one of the most successful seasons in its history, with our Championship team coming up just short in its first grand final appearance in 14 years.
All three Hawks teams played finals for the second year running, with our young VNL 23/U team bowing out in the first week of finals after finishing the regular season in third spot, while our VNL Reserves (19/U) team won two finals thrillers to reach the grand final where they finished runners up to Boroondara Express.
But it was the Championship squad that shone on the biggest stage, leading for most of the season decider against City West Falcons before being overrun in the dying seconds.
The Hawks overcame North East Blaze by a goal in the qualifying final and then became the first team to defeat City West in more than 40 games when they handed them an 11-goal defeat in the major semi-final.
Hawks head coach AJ Ballantyne said reaching the club’s first Championship grand final since 2011 was testament to the work the players had put into building as a group in a very short space of time.
“Looking back at the results it’s easy to forget that more than half of our Championship squad was new this year. Five players made the step up from 23/U, and it’s incredibly rare to have so much inexperience on court at this level and yet deliver stronger results than the previous season,” he said.
“And we welcomed Ash Mawer from Tassie, who has plenty of experience but not against this level of state league competition. She couldn’t have been more impressive from the moment she walked in the door, and being named in the Team of the Year alongside our captain Chloe Duke was testament to that.”
“With most of the group returning in 2026, we think we’re really well placed to have a really big year in 2026.”
The Hawks look forward to player signing announcements in the coming weeks.