ADCA 2024-25: Royals premiership defence over after brave fight in preliminary final against rivals Mt Barker

Royals stand-in Ryley Valli says his team will come back stronger after a disappointing preliminary final exit in the 2024-25 Albany and Districts Cricket Association A-grade campaign. Valli stepped up for the Lions’ finals campaign after the loss of regular skipper Mitch Green to a serious calf injury in the last game of the regular season, but his side were bounced out of the title race after a 39-run loss to Mt Barker on Saturday. Without their star batter, the Lions’ batting woes were again exposed, with only Matt France (23) and Daniel Thomas (21) surpassing 20 in their unsuccessful chase. Despite early wickets with the ball, the Bulls reached the winning total to knock the reigning premiers out. “Greeny going down really dampened the mood for the group; he’s a great leader and good with the bat as well, so it was disappointing for all of us to see him go down,” Valli said. The Lions, who only recently claimed the T20 premiership, had a horror second half of the season and lost captain Green (calf) and spinner Jack Hastie (hamstring) for the preliminary final and they rolled the dice on Harry Grigson, who is recovering from a broken finger. Valli was huge in the final with 4-36 as he snared the middle order scalps of Jeremy Wood (0), Ryan Gaerth (0) and Mitch Jackson (7) after already dismissing opener Alex Fergie for 40. “There were a few overs where we felt like we were on top but they slipped away in the last five overs or so. They had some of their guys who did really well with the bat and got that later partnership going,” Valli said. Valli said the team endured a rollercoaster of a season, starting off as one of the competition’s most promising sides but were upset by injury in the later stages. “We had a couple of losses that we probably shouldn’t have lost and a couple of guys who weren’t up to doing as well as they were earlier on, so lots of ups and downs for us. “I think we did really well to get as far as we did, especially losing Greeny at the end there, so I think overall we played a season to be proud of.”