NETBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND
Heyfield will have a battle on its hands this weekend when it meets reigning premier Woodside in the preliminary final at Gaskin Park on Saturday.
The Wildcats have an impressive repertoire when it comes to finals, having won its inaugural flag in 2008, the same year the club joined the league after leaving Alberton.
From there, Woodside won flags in 2009 and 2010 and defeated Rosedale by one goal in the grand final during the dying moments of the game at Traralgon last year.
But Woodside A grade captain Carly Foat said the side has experienced a number of changes since last season, agreeing she was pleased to make the preliminary final.
“It’s going to be a really tough game, [Heyfield] finished top of the ladder but we did beat them in the second-last round,” Foat said.
“At the end of the day it’s going to be about who can execute the game the best… they beat us the first time we played them this season so it’s going to be a tight one.”
The last time these two teams played in finals was the 2016 semi final when the Wildcats walked all over the Roos to win by 22 goals.
The win saw Woodside progress through to the grand final while Heyfield played, and lost, to Rosedale in the preliminary final by 13 goals.
The Roos head into the game following a four-goal loss to Sale City last weekend in the semi-final.
Heyfield coach Kerri Chivers said her team was disappointed to be knocked over by Sale City in the semi-final, but cited the girls were “more hungry than ever” to secure a win.
“It’s going to be a really good game and the girls are really pumped,” Chivers said.
“Sale City made the most of their opportunities on Saturday, we had a lot of trouble in attack and they had eight [goals] on the board before we even scored.
“On the plus side Caitlan Ponton won the league best-and-fairest on Monday night and she’s got all the girls fired up for the weekend now because she’s never won a best-and-fairest before.”
Ponton was named best on court eight times for a total of 32 votes.
