Despite the league's best efforts to give teams a chance to play finals, the outbreak in Ballarat proved too difficult to contend with.

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The A Grade finals series was due to present some entertaining story lines.

Buninyong continued to get stronger and won its first minor premiership in some time, finishing with an undefeated season and looking primed for a grand final run.

The Bombers were due to face reigning premier Hepburn at some stage throughout the finals and seeing as the two didn't clash in the regular season, it loomed as a classic contest.

Springbank sat outside the top four for the first time in a long time but remained a strong flag fancy.

The side that overtook it into third, Rokewood-Corindhap, was due to challenge itself against the league's best at the business end of the season.

There were many more but as was the case in 2020, COVID reared its ugly head and prevented the great finish the season deserved from occurring.

For CHNL president Natalie Clark, calling an end to the season was tough.

"It was a bloody awful decision to make and to ring the clubs last night, I was near tears doing it," she said.

"A lot of people have worked so hard for the season that to see it eventuate to nothing is really disappointing."

The decision brings to an end an inconsistent season, heavily affected by lockdowns.

Five rounds were missed due to three separate lockdowns.

The CHNL eventually followed the football league's lead and adopted a percentage of games ladder system, trying to keep the competition as fair as possible.

Come the end of the season, restrictions meant crowds were not permitted into games.

As the second-half of the season wore on, the state of the finals changed, the September 11 grand final date continually pushed back.

Eventually, the league set aside seven weeks to complete a four-week finals series, October 2 or 3 the cut-off date.

That time continued to run out, this missed weekend already ending Springbank, Beaufort, Gordon and Dunnstown's seasons before the league's announcement.

The Tigers especially remained a strong threat for the premiership even from outside the top four.

Clark said the season has presented plenty of obstacles from an administrator's point of view.

"It has been challenging," she said.

"Netball Victoria have been absolutely amazing, (they've) been incredibly supportive and their guidance has been incredible.

"Our committee have just backed each other along the way and taken on jobs that we wouldn't normally have.

"(Tried) to communicate to clubs as best we can, I know there's been times where we probably didn't live up to every clubs expectations but you're probably never going to.

"I think we've just tried our hardest to do what we can for everyone involved."

The unprecedented nature of the season added another layer of complexity for Clark, with no historical advice to look back on when it comes to running a season during COVID.

"You've got no idea what to do because no one's ever had to do it before," she said.

"No different to Dan Andrews and Scott Morrison, you've got not idea what to do because no one's done it before."

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