AN injury-hit Balranald will face a desperate and determined Cohuna Kangas side looking to keep their own finals hopes burning Saturday afternoon.
Joining injured co-coach Jess Parry on the sidelines will be Brie Galvin, set to be out for the rest of the season after injuring her knee during the Roos’ three-goal win over NNW United last Saturday.
The loss of Galvin will hurt fourth-placed Balranald’s attacking third, with the wing attack having stepped up in recent weeks in the absence of star goaler Parry.
Co-coach Elli-Jane Pollard said the Roos would now be forced to shuffle their side around again.
“It’s make or break this game for us, I guess,” Pollard told The Guardian this week.
“We’re pretty lucky with the depth we have with our A Res girls and they’re sitting comfortably on top of the ladder, so we will need to use some of those girls to help us out.
“It was a great win last week and we’ll take a lot of confidence from that game, especially after losing Brie (Galvin), just the way the younger girls stood up was brilliant.
“Cohuna are a bit of an unknown for us though, they have a few new faces this season and we’re not too sure what to expect from them, but I know it’s definitely going to be a tough game.
“We have to work on our defensive pressure, which is one of our main strengths and if we keep doing that, hopefully we can create enough opportunities to not only win Saturday, but keep winning games across the rest of the season.”
Although the Roos have a six-win, three-loss record, snapping at their heels are the Kangas, who need to win in order to keep themselves ahead of Tyntynder (sixth) and Woorinen (seventh) in the battle for fifth place.
The challenge facing the Kangas will be to rebound after last Saturday’s disappointing 26-goal loss to ladder leaders Lake Boga.
Cohuna coach Georgia Anderson was fully aware her team needed to get back to playing the brand of netball that saw them win five out of six games before the bye.
“We have to win, it’s as simple as that,” Anderson said.
“Having two weeks off I don’t think overly helped us, we were a bit flat last week, but some of our team changes and positional changes that we made I think worked a bit better.
“Our girls know we have to win this weekend. We need to get back into the frame of mind we had at the start of the season and get that hunger back.
“We need to get things right in our attack end, I think we’re pretty good defensively across the board and we put on a fair bit of pressure, but when we’re directing play, that’s where we need to put in a bit more attention.
“Because we’re a new team, we started off really hungry and enthusiastic and we flowed a bit easier because we just had a crack and had nothing to lose, but now there we’re getting into the season, it’s changed a little bit.
“We still need to play with that same attitude and freedom, especially when we are trying to direct play, but we tend to throw it away a little bit and make silly mistakes, but that will come with consistency of playing together for longer.”
One of those positional changes that proved successful was the move of defender Carly Geary into the Kangas’ attacking third, with Ebony Black, Marli Easton and Anderson all holding down the defensive posts and allowing Geary to impact at the opposite end of the court.
The Balranald brains trust is likely to face a similar conundrum with co-coach Pollard, who has filled in as goal shooter for Parry, but also changed the game for the Roos when she went into defence and helped halt the Demons’ scoring power.
As both clubs possess tall and dominant bookends, this game is likely to be decided by which team uses the ball better through the midcourt, with the change in personnel after Galvin’s injury expected to give the home side the edge.
Tip – Cohuna to win by three goals.
