GAWLER Doomsday Rollers secured their third consecutive Rockabellas Roller Derby League premiership after beating Toxic Cherries 215-152 in the grand final last fortnight at the Gawler Sport and Community Centre.

The Cherries had dealt the Rollers their first-ever defeat only a month ago, but it wasn’t enough to rattle the competition’s best team for a second time.

Rollers player Tanya Fielding said it was great to claim another title.

“We knew the Cherries would come out hard after beating us last time so we had to be ready to play harder, but smarter than last time,” she said.

“It was close for most of the game, so knowing we kept our heads and used some new things we had learnt at training in the weeks prior was a great achievement for us all.

“For most of the first half there was less than 20 points in it, but we managed to push the lead out to 103-68 in the last jam of the first half.

“The second half we usually held a 20-30 point lead, which can easily be pulled back in one or two jams.

“In the last few jams we blew the lead out to around 40 points and pushed it further in the final jam to win.”

Roller derby’s popularity has continued to spike in the Gawler region, and the Rollers are growing through that.

The Rockabellas Roller Derby League has its ‘Fresh Meat’ intake information session on Tuesday night, October 1, at the Gawler Sport and Community Centre.

“Roller derby in Gawler is slowly growing,” Fielding said.

“Seeing the spectators in the crowd at the grand final was unreal.

“It would have to be one of the biggest crowds we have had, which was great to see, so the word must be getting around that roller derby exists in Gawler.

“We had around four or five ‘Fresh Meat’ players join us this year, and we would love to see even more next year.”

For more information, visit the ‘Rockabellas Roller Derby League’ Facebook page.