West Grand Final | Senators turn tables on Cougars

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The Warwick Senators had a clear plan that worked a treat even without their head coach against the hot favourite Cockburn Cougars with Chloe Forster unstoppable in the 102-76 NBL1 West Grand Final win and Nat Burton getting a dream farewell.

Brad Robbins wasn’t in RAC Arena on Saturday, or in fact in the country with him with the Australian Emus in India right now, but he was happy to defer to his NBL championship winning running mate Paul Rogers and what Warwick delivered was a sight to behold.

Cockburn beat a brave yet shorthanded Senators team in the Grand Final last year and the Cougars went through 2026 losing just three games and entering the decider with another 12-game winning run.

That included beating the Senators in a qualifying final and what this Cockburn team of 2026 had done was go big. The big trio of Darcee Garbin, Jessie Edwards and Daniel Raber had been working a treat too for coach Russell Hann.

But Warwick came in with a plan to use that against the Cougars and it worked. The Senators wanted to push the pace at every opportunity with their standout guards Forster and Jayda Clark aggressive right from the outset.

They would push the ball, attack the paint and then also had a shooter like Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard to dish out to. It couldn’t have possibly worked better and the Cougars for as good as they have been making a fourth consecutive Grand Final, had no answers.

Forster proved to be the best player on the court fresh off playing in a WNBL championship with the Townsville Fire. Cockburn just couldn’t stop her getting to the basket and she went 14/14 at the foul line.

She also scored 15 points alone in the third quarter to blow the game apart and was named Grand Final MVP ending up with 34 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals with 4/6 three-point shooting too.

It was also the fairytale finish for Western Australian basketball legend Nat Burton. She won her fifth championship and second with the Senators after three with the Perry Lakes Hawks in what was her 268th game in the league on top of what she did in college, the WNBL, Europe and for the Opals.

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It was a rematch of last year's Grand Final won by Cockburn and even though the Cougars beat Warwick two weeks ago in the qualifying final, the Senators were the team that ended the 30-game winning streak of the reigning champions earlier this season.

Warwick did make a fast start with the first four points with a glimpse into their plan for the night on show with finishes from Chloe Forster and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard.

But the Cougars responded and new mum Darcee Garbin was looking to make her mark attempting to win a fourth championship and had 12 first-quarter points with a couple of three-point bombs.

But Clinch Hoycard hit a three on the quarter-time buzzer for Warwick to go in leading 26-25 with 7/7 shooting from the foul line while the Cougars had been shooting 61 per cent from the field.

Jayda Clark was the one that got going in the second quarter for Warwick and as a result by half-time she had 13 points and five assists while back court partner Forster was up to 15 points and four assists.

Clinch Hoycard also had 13 points with the 3/5 shooting from the outside and as a result the Senators went into half-time with all the momentum and leading 54-44 thanks to shooting 61 per cent and 13/15 from the free-throw line.

Cockburn were still shooting 56 per cent from the field but only went 2/5 from the stripe and despite the 16 points from Garbin, and nine each from Cierra Walker and MVP Jessie Edwards, they found themselves down double digits.

The Senators then made sure there would be no escape this time by Cockburn which they have managed to do a host of times this season and Forster played the third quarter of her life.

She ended up hitting a string of three-point bombs that each one was a bigger and bigger dagger into Cockburn. When she made a tough layup to extend the lead, she got right up in the face of MVP Edwards and let her know about it.

Forster had 15 points in the quarter and was up to 30 with 4/6 three-point shooting by three quarter-time and Warwick had the championship locked away with the 21-point advantage.

The last quarter was celebration time for Warwick and they made sure they enjoyed the occasion on RAC Arena on the way to the 26-point victory to make it a second championship in five years.

On top of the Grand Final MVP performance from Forster, Clinch Hoycard ended up with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists ahead of a second WNBL season at the Geelong Venom with 6/10 shooting from the outside.

Kiara Waite also had 12 points and four rebounds, Greta Kampschroeder 11 points and five assists, Jayda Clark 11 points, nine assists and seven boards, and the retiring Nat Burton four points, three rebounds and three steals in 19 minutes.

Cockburn have now played in the last four Grand Finals for championships in 2023 and 2025, and now losses to Rockingham and Warwick in 2024 and 2026.

The combination of the three bigs didn’t work for Cockburn in the Grand Final even with Darcee Garbin finishing with 18 points and five rebounds, and Jessie Edwards 18 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Daniel Raber only managed six points and five assists in 21 minutes before fouling out while Cierra Walker finished with 17 points and four assists.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | GRAND FINAL

WARWICK SENATORS 102 (Forster 34, Clinch Hoycard 22, Waite 12)

COCKBURN COUGARS 76 (Garbin 18, Edwards 18, Walker 17)

Grand Final MVP: Chloe Forster (Warwick Senators)