SWAN Hill have struck a pre-finals blow to the Mallee Eagles with a 10-goal win over their rivals at the weekend.
The 50-40 win locks the Swans into the top two, with the Eagles now needing to win their last two games against Kerang and Lake Boga to ensure they finish third and secure the double chance.
After trailing by three goals late in the opening term, the Swans turned the game around in the second quarter, outscoring the Eagles by six goals and giving themselves a handy five-goal buffer at the main break.
From there, the experienced Swans controlled the contest, with their midcourt combination of Holly Rogers, Karli McIntyre and Hayley Neuschafer applying pressure on the Eagles runners, which created many turnovers as the visitors tried to feed the ball into Megan Thorneycroft and Gemma Miller.
Their ball movement wasn’t helped by Kasey Torr, Leah McKenzie and Laura Sheahan missing from their starting seven.
However, it was a strong performance from Swan Hill, who appear perfectly placed as one of the teams to beat this finals series.
“Coming off the bye can always be interesting, so we were happy with how the game went,” Swan Hill co-coach Madeleine Nalder said.
“We didn’t get away to the best start and (Mallee Eagles) got the jump on us a little bit, but we got it back to level pegging and were able to get the game played on our terms eventually.
“It certainly wasn’t a blowout, we were just able to gain the momentum in the second and third quarters and I think that was the difference in the result, because it was a pretty even contest really.
“We just found our groove in the second quarter. I don’t necessarily feel it was a momentum shift, we just picked up a couple of crucial turnovers and converted from our own centres passes.
“We just capitalised on a couple of turnovers that we picked up over the course of play.”
The Swans’ ability to pressure the Eagles midcourt into errors when in transition through the visitors’ centre and forward third was impressive to watch.
Defenders Tess Meney and Stevie Bibby intercepted many errant passes as the Eagles pressed to get back into the game.
“I think every team focuses on having good ball movement and we’re always trying to do that, but sometimes you can’t do that due to pressure and that’s always a focus of ours,” Nalder said.
“The Mallee Eagles are a very good defensive team, and we knew we had to be very good in moving the ball down the court and making sure we weren’t putting ourselves under pressure when we had the ball as well.
“They have some great readers of the ball in their side, and I think we were overall happy with our own ball movement as well.
“There were patches where they put us under pressure and we turned the ball over, but we were overall happy with our performance.”
Defender Tess Meney, wing attack Holly Rogers and goal shooter Zoe Morris (32 goals) were among Swan Hill’s better players, with Meney’s defensive work a key contributor to the Swans’ win.
Co-coach and wing attack Jess Jobling was one of the Eagles’ better players along with goal shooter Gemma Miller, who shot 23 goals.
Final Whistle
| Swan Hill | 50 |
| Mallee Eagles | 40 |
