Congratulations to Central Pulse who retained their ANZ Premiership title with a 43-31 Grand Victory over The Good Oil Tactix.
Although they led by 10 at halftime, the experienced Pulse had to pull out all the stops in the final quarter to keep out a fast-closing Tactix, who continued to show the astonishing resilience which has marked their difficult, but still rewarding, year.
First-time finalists, the Tactix put on a gutsy fight-back in the third quarter, but it was hard to halt the Pulse’s speed and confidence on the court.
The 2020 ANZ Premiership’s best player, coach and umpire have also been announced following the Grand Final.
The Good Oil Tactix defender Jane Watson has been named 2020 ANZ Premiership Player of the Year.
Watson is the third recipient of the ANZ Premiership Player of the Year award having also won the 2017 award, along with Katrina Rore (2018) and Gina Crampton (2019).
Meanwhile, Yvette McCausland-Durie was awarded ANZ Premiership Coach of the Year after leading the Pulse to back-to-back titles.
McCausland-Durie, who stepped down as coach of the Pulse after Sunday’s Grand Final, guided the side through its most successful era having made the Finals Series four years in a row and winning Grand Finals in 2019 and 2020.
Josh Bowring has been named ANZ Premiership Umpire of the Year for the second year in a row thanks to another strong season.
Bowring has umpired 26 ANZ Premiership matches since moving from Australia to New Zealand at the end of 2018.
Sunday’s Grand Final was the second ANZ Premiership title decider Bowring has umpired, while he also umpired the semi-final between New Zealand and England at the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool.
