NETBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND
Churchill walked away 16-goal winners against Yarram at the weekend during a Sunday clash which will give both teams the week off as the split round continues.
Rosedale remain on top of the North Gippsland ladder, eight points in front of second-placed Churchill and 10 in front of third-placed Cowwarr.
Yarram coach Stacee Staley said her side was working hard to make up for a lack in height after flagging a lack of turnovers as the reason for Sunday’s loss.
“We’re really trying to work out how to match tall shooters so we’ve been doing a bit of adjustment with positions which we haven’t quite settled with yet,” Staley said.
“We stayed with them for most of the game – it’s just that we don’t have a whole heap of height in our team. We can do it, we’ve just got to work our butts off and work harder.”
Yarram sit fourth on the North Gippsland A grade ladder, only a game behind fifth-placed Woodside.
The Cougars, on the other hand, hold a clear advantage in second and will hope to improve on their performance as the second half of the season commences.
“It should be pretty good, we should definitely make finals but we have to win all of the games we won in the first half plus a couple more,” Staley said.
TTU v Glengarry
TRARALGON Tyers United A grade coach Sharon Rodgers says this weekend’s match against Glengarry – coinciding with the Gippsland Pride Cup – will celebrate diversity across the region.
“TTU is a very diverse club and accepting of everybody and it’s good for the club to be involved in this,” Rodgers said.
“A lot of work goes into it from our point of view and everyone has pulled together to try and make it a successful day.
“We expect it to be a tough game but we’ll be working towards a win for a bit of a confidence boost heading into the second half of the season.”
While TTU have been tracking fairly well on court with no injuries, the side will be hoping for a consistent effort against the Pies who sit one place below the Bombers in ninth.
“We’ve had no one out at this stage so it’s a matter of being consistent and playing four quarters of netball,” Rodgers said.
Gormandale v Cowwarr
COWWARR coach Ebony Galea is optimistic the club’s two top senior netball sides will come away with round 10 wins this weekend after a positive first half start to the season.
The Saints sit third on the North Gippsland A grade ladder and head into the game coming off a round nine win.
“It’s always a challenging game against Gormandale, they play really well as a team but we’re quite confident we’ll come away with the win,” Galea said.
“We have to maintain our position on the ladder. We’re currently sitting [third] and we’d like to keep it that way.
“I believe in the structure we’re playing with at the moment and hopefully without any changes the team is just going to continue to play well and win.”
Gormandale sit last on the ladder, with only one win this season and will be vying to change that when they host the Saints this weekend.
Rosedale v Woodside
BRONWYN Tebb will miss the remainder this season for Rosedale due to personal reasons as the Blues look to replace one of their best goalers.
Rosedale coach Stacey Scott said her side was going “very well” but the loss of Tebb “would hurt the club” and mean a new shooting combination would have to be developed in the coming weeks.
“We’re back to the start in terms of our season and we have been a little disrupted the last few weeks after losing one of our players,” Scott said.
“We’re working on combinations and new partnerships and making sure they’re building down the court.
“Bronwyn was a bit of a pivotal player but we’ll have to work to filling that gap in the next few rounds.”
Scott said this weekend’s game against Woodside shouldn’t “be taken lightly” despite the Blues sitting five places below the ladder leader in Rosedale.
Woodside coach Kristy Lucas said she was excited to match up against the Blues this weekend to see how her side has improved since their round one encounter.
“We know Rosedale are both physically and mentally strong. They’re a strong, strategic side with some great senior heads amongst them which will be hard to out-manoeuvre,” Lucas said.
Heyfield v Sale City
SALE City will head down the road to Heyfield this weekend when the Bulldogs host the Roos in a seventh versus sixth battle.
Both teams will require the win to move a spot closer to the top five, with Heyfield equal on points with fifth-placed Woodside.
Sale City have won just four games for the season, one more than TTU who have three wins and a draw under their belt.
