Minor Premiers Gold Coast-Tweed have redeemed their Quarter Final loss and booked a Grand Final showdown with Newcastle, breaking Sydney's 6-game winning streak in the Semi Final on the Gold Coast.
Both sides in fact came into the match having only lost once since Round 7. Both sides looked nervous as Gold Coast-Tweed served first and Sydney sent the ball skyward and out of the stadium. The game was scrappy early on as they battled to 5-5 at half time. It was unusual to watch as both these sides are normally very composed.
The second half saw the scrappiness continue as both sides made unforced errors as they progressed to 7-all. At this point Gold Coast-Tweed seemed to regain focus while Sydney continued to make errors. Gold Coast-Tweed moved to a 10-7 lead and finally won the match 11-8.
So after 71 matches and 1,324 points it comes down to arguably the two form sides who have traded the top two spots throughout the season. They have met twice on the Gold Coast and have won once each. It's a difficult one to pick, but Newcastle do tend to perform well at home, but Gold Coast-Tweed are a class side and will be hard to beat, however they will need to shake off the scrappy play they showed in overcoming Sydney.
ARTTSL President Bernard Elksteine has congratulated both teams on making the Grand Final, calling them the "cream of the crop" and stating these are the sorts of sides that deserve to be in ARTTSL's First Division, an apparent side-swipe at the Second-Divisions sides rumoured to be about to defect to the rival Hyperball League.
There is no further word of developments in Hyperball. There are fears however that they are preparing for a big announcement of team defections to take attention away from ARTTSL's Grand Final.
SEMI FINAL RESULT:
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d Sydney 8 (at Gold Coast)
GRAND FINAL:
Newcastle vs Gold Coast-Tweed (at Newcastle)
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