ANA 2025: Reigning premiers Royals Saints show no signs of slowing after 10-goal win to start new A1 season

Reigning premiers Royals Saints 1 made an emphatic opening round statement with a strong 10-goal victory over Bullets 1 in the Albany Netball Association A1 competition on Saturday. The two sides, who met in last year’s A1 grand final, opened the new season but it was Royals who picked up from where they left off back in September. Royals scored the first four goals of the round one clash and then scored seven consecutive goals later in the first term to open up an 11-goal buffer. That margin proved too much for Bullets, who could never claw back close enough to seriously challenge the titleholders. Bullets trailed by 15 goals at three-quarter-time and despite hitting the final four goals of the contest they still went down 39-49. With Sophie Loveridge, Krystal Prunster and Rebecca Goodliffe controlling centre court, Royals gave plenty of supply to shooters Summer Stirling and Tayeesha Weeden. Stirling was particularly effective in the first half as Royals opened up their match-winning advantage. Bullets under new coach Jenny Cristinelli took some time to find their groove but their defence was kept busy with Tea Etheridge and Tiarna Wallinger in the goal circle for the first half. Claire Holliday, who made her name as a defender, was swung forward in an unfamiliar role but overcame some early misses to help Bullets ensure the margin didn’t blow out. Lauren Lehmann and Melinda Gibson worked hard through midcourt for Bullets. A brilliant start from Magpies 1 was the catalyst for their 16-goal win over Griffins 1. Magpies led by 12 goals at quarter-time thanks mainly to a red-hot start, hitting 13 of the first 15 goals of the contest. Griffins simply couldn’t claw their way back from that sluggish start and the margin blew out to 16 by half-time. Nine goals from Griffins in the third trimmed the deficit to 15 by the last change but the damage had been done as Magpies cruised to a 45-29 result. In the other round one fixture Kangas 1 led at every change on their way to a convincing 22-goal win over Railways 1. Emily Gadean, who spent last season playing with Bullets, was a key inclusion for the young Kangas squad as they dominated the second term. Railways trailed by four goals at quarter time but Kangas stretched that buffer to 12 by half time on their way to the 54-32 triumph.