LIAM DURKIN
NETBALL
By LIAM DURKIN
IT WAS a Traralgon Takeover for the Melbourne Vixens, who descended upon the area for a three day roadshow last week.
Starting on Friday, the Vixens came to the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium for two preseason matches against the Adelaide Thunderbirds ahead of the Suncorp Super Netball Season, and also undertook a number of coaching and engagement programs with local netball associations, schools and stakeholders.
The Vixens even had specially made t-shirts featuring the ‘Traralgon Takeover’ slogan made up for the occasion, with many spotted in the crowd and among Vixen staff over the three
days.
Traralgon proved to be a happy hunting ground for the team, who left with two wins from as many hit outs with the Thunderbirds.
A 56-53 victory on Saturday was followed by a thrilling 58-56 win the next day.
The Sunday match was not decided until literally the last 20 seconds, when a crucial intercept by Vixens goal defence Olivia Lewis gave the home side possession and a chance to steady.
The GRISS has certainly got a fair workout in the last few weeks, with the venue hosting National Basketball League clubs South East Melbourne Phoenix, the Melbourne Boomers, and now Melbourne Phoenix.
Latrobe City Mayor Kellie O’Callaghan has been to them all, and said the hosting of such events extended far beyond the games themselves.
“One of the things we find when the clubs come down here is it isn’t just the games, we know that they have been doing a great deal of work with the coaches and the clubs, all of that work really supports the development of our local clubs,” Cr O’Callaghan said.
“The Vixens have been overwhelmingly supportive of helping us all organise what we needed to do and it has been a real success, the community has loved it.
“We are really grateful for the time they gave, and the players just didn’t hesitate.
“The professionalism of the clubs and players is outstanding and we’ve been fortunate, they’ve certainly provided us with some insights and pathways to participation for the community we never would have had the opportunity to experience before and we’ve got to take this fantastic stadium out for a real test-run and see how it holds up.
“I was speaking to Norma Plummer of the Vixens and she was saying it is one of the best venues they’ve been able to participate in.”
Those entering the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium fresh off the street with no knowledge a practice match was being played probably would have been none the wiser, as the game carried with it everything from a game played for premiership points including electronic fence signage, court announcements and crowd participation between time outs.
While pre-season games can often be bruise-free encounters, from the casual observers view courtside this certainly did not appear to be the case for any Vixen or Thunderbirds player, who all genuinely looked as though they were trying as hard as they could.
This attitude was reciprocated by those in
attendance, who barracked as hard as they could, not at all caring that it was just a practice match.
