After establishing an early lead in Sunday’s elimination final against Warrnambool at Friendly Societies’ Park, the Bombers fended off multiple challenges from the Blues, holding on to win 32-29.

Cobden led by as much as eight goals early in the second quarter, before Warrnambool turned the tide to go into half-time just two goals in arrears.

In what was a tough, physical contest – played in a strong breeze which tested goalers – the Bombers edged out to a four-goal lead at the final change and kept their noses in front in the final term, despite a spirited fight from the Blues.

“It was some pretty tough conditions with the wind today,” Cobden coach Nadine McNamara said.

“It was definitely won through the midcourt and defence.”

Young Bombers goaler Molly Hutt was particularly impressive early, getting some handy rebounds to get her side off to an early lead.

The Blues responded with three goals in succession to Amy Wormald – fresh off a championship win with Big V Basketball side Warrnambool Mermaids the night before – to level the scores.

In a test of wills and composure under pressure from the two sides, a deadlock ensued, before a strong finish from Cobden saw its goalers drop in six of the next seven goals to lead 9-4 at quarter time.

Bombers wing defence Jess Wheadon was impressive throughout the game, intercepting and getting tips to the ball to halt the Blues’ momentum on number occasions.

Both teams’ defences stood up beautifully, earning rebounds and turnovers time and time again, despite good feed into the goals.

“Tough conditions, tough match – we didn’t play the brand of netball that I think we can play,” McNamara said. “So I think knowing that we can win in these tough conditions is fantastic going forward.

“We’ve got a lot of versatility throughout our side and we’ve also got some fresh legs we can bring on if needed.

“Hopefully we can really take it to Camperdown.”

It’s been a strong turnaround from Cobden, which lost seven games in a row in the first half of the season, before a complete reverse in the second half, winning seven of nine games.

Blues coach Emma Cust was proud of her side’s efforts, but lamented the fact that, for all they were able to keep the Bombers in check, they were never able to claim the lead.

“It was a good game – I think we might’ve nearly got even with them at one time – but we just couldn’t get that break and get ahead,” she said.

“We just needed to reset and go again, but we probably didn’t have a lot of people on playing that had a lot of finals experience.

“But we had five out of seven teams (at the club) make the finals, and that hasn’t happened here for 6-10 years. So as part of that culture, we just need to keep moving forward.”

Meanwhile, Port Fairy has announced premiership player Sarah McCorkell as the Seagulls’ open grade coach for the next two seasons.

McCorkell, who played in the Seagulls’ 2016 grand final triumph has a host of netball achievements to her credit.

The Seagulls stalwart takes over from Megan Titmus, who guided the team to its maiden flag triumph last season, before the team narrowly missed out on a finals berth this year.