The George scrambled home to win by a goal after trailing Hills throughout the game.

The end result was 40-39 mirroring last year’s 36-35 grand final result when The George scored in the final 30 seconds to defeat the minor premiers.

“I think both teams were probably down from full-strength, but it’s always great to beat such a quality team,” The Georgie’s Amonie Lindsall said.

“It was a really tight match and we expected nothing less as they are such strong competitors and the game went the full 60 minutes.”

The George had to rearrange its starting line-up with two players out. 

Laura Nolan moved from defence to in front of the goals and Alyce Ham played in defence.

“We were really pleased to test our versatility and come away with the win as it was a really good game.”

Hills held a three goal lead at quarter and three-quarter time and extended the lead out to seven at half-time.

“We really did band together at the end when the pressure was on,” Lindsall said.

“It’s important to know that for each pass that someone is going to be there to get it. That’s something that we have developed over the last year and are taking into this year.

“We’re definitely not going to get ahead of ourselves. We know it’s only the start of the season but it’s nice to get a win.”

Lindsall said it was difficult to highlight the performance of individual players as everyone performed well and dug deep to get the win.

“The players who played outside their usual positions certainly need some praise,” she said.

“Laura Nolan came out of our defence end to come down to the shooting end. She stepped up into that position and did really well.

“It allowed us to work out another combination in defence with one of our recruits Alyce Ham playing with our usual defender Amy Williams.

“Ash Edwards was strong as usual in the mid-court.”

In other results new A-grade team Darren O’Brien Plumbing had a confidence boosting 46-43 win against LJ Hooker.

Royal Federal had a  46-28 win against The Castle.