NETBALL
GIPPSLAND
The young and hungry Lions will travel to Bairnsdale to kick off the first half of the split round in the Gippsland league on Saturday and coach Peter Moody said the Redlegs were shaping as a worthy opponent.
“Bairnsdale’s goaling combinations are working really well at the moment and Sally Deller is shooting a lot of goals and playing really well,” he said.
“Our defence can’t do much more than what they’re doing at the moment so I back them in but it’ll be a good test for them to see how they bounce back and it will give us a true indication of where we’re at.”
Moe suffered their first loss in six weeks at the hands of a rampant Warragul side in torrid conditions at the weekend, 31-29, but managed to hang on to their top-five spot with two games’ breathing space between them and Maffra in fifth.
“Full credit to Warragul – they turned up to play and they dominated the first three quarters but we’ve got no excuses,” Moody said.
“In the last quarter the rain stopped and we were down by 11 and lost by two but it was in between the ears for us.”
Skipper Samantha Waters will miss for Moe this weekend with VNL commitments but Moody was confident of covering the midcourt with the club’s talented B grade stocks.
Bairnsdale travelled to Drouin to take on the 2017 runners-up and held their own in an old-fashioned shoot out before being over run by five goals by the Hawks.
“We did well to travel which we haven’t done well this year, so to go down there and get within five of Drouin was really good,” Bairnsdale coach Katelyn Wheeler said.
Goal attack Sally Deller was a standout for the Redlegs in their narrow loss to Drouin and was best on court, according to Wheeler.
“Sally played really well like she does every week but she was even better on the weekend,” Wheeler said.
She also praised the efforts of goal defence Michaela O’Connor who was given the unenviable task of taking on league best and fairest Stacie Gardiner in goals.
Ahead of this weekend’s clash with Moe, Wheeler expected a fiery Lions side to take the court.
“Last time they weren’t at full strength and had a few out so I expect it to be tough but I think the season’s pretty even and we’ve beaten Traralgon and lost to Morwell by six and Drouin by five so we’re capable of beating anyone at this point,” she said.
Bairnsdale toppled Moe by three goals when the sides met in round four earlier this season and Wheeler said she was “really pleased” with how her troops were tracking.
“All in all I think compared to last year, I’m really happy,” she said.
“We’ve lost some close margin games that we could have won but overall you’ve got to be happy with where we’re at.”
Maffra v Leongatha
Maffra will be hellbent on hanging onto fifth spot on the Gippsland league A grade ladder this weekend when they come up against eighth-placed Leongatha in round 13 action.
The Eagles received a hostile reception when they travelled to Wonthaggi at the weekend and went goal-for-goal with the Power before edging them out by three at the final whistle.
Leongatha faced arguably the toughest test in the league in round 12 and made the trip to Morwell to play the ladder leaders and were no match for the Tigers, falling by 20 goals.
The sides last met in round four earlier this season and Maffra were far too good on home turf, stacking on 52 goals to account for the Parrots by 21 goals.
