TYNTYNDER have returned to the top five for the first time since round three following an arduous nine-goal win over a determined Woorinen on the weekend.
While the Bulldogs led for much of the afternoon, it wasn’t until the final quarter that the game was all but out of reach of the visitors, with the Bulldogs outscoring the Tigers 15 goals to 10 over the last 15 minutes.
The 50-41 victory saw Tyntynder leap-frog the Mallee Eagles into fifth place, while relegating Woorinen to eighth on the Central Murray ladder, with just two wins from their first seven matches of the season, and leaving them perilously close to falling from the finals race.
With a tough contest expected, Tyntynder coach Kelsey Rowe was content with her team’s performance while also acknowledging that her side’s best netball was still ahead of them.
“We were happy to get the win,” Rowe said post match.
“It felt like we played better on Saturday than we have in previous weeks, which shows we’re still on an upward trend where the last couple of weeks we probably haven’t played as well as we’d like to.
“Our takeaway from Saturday is if we can play like we did in the fourth quarter, then why aren’t we playing like that in the first three, because we feel like we can be putting some of these games away earlier.
“Previously we’ve been probably playing half a game of netball, whereas on Saturday we probably played three good quarters so it was an improvement, but we’re still looking to put four quarters together.”
After leading by just four goals at three-quarter-time, the Bulldogs quickly extended their lead, with the visitors scoring five of the first seven goals of the final term to hold an unassailable seven-goal lead by midway through the last quarter.
“Our fitness was a bit of a strength, I felt, and was one of the reasons why we played as well as we did in the last quarter,” Rowe said.
“We had a good start and then probably got a bit complacent through the middle of the game, which has sort of been our story all season, but when we had that down patch we didn’t let Woorinen get the jump on us and get 10 goals up.
“The fourth quarter we put our foot down a little bit and that’s where we won the game as it was pretty level until then, I felt.
“Our fitness helped us run out that fourth quarter a little bit harder than they did, but it was quite even up until then.”
Rowe led the way in the Bulldogs’ attacking half, shooting a team-high 33 goals, with her partnership alongside GS Bridget Dedini (17 goals) a key component of Tyntynder’s nine-goal win, while midcourters Elvie Kelly-Britten and Demi Wall were also strong contributors for the winners.
The news wasn’t all bad for Woorinen, who despite not claiming the four points can still be excited for their future after the performance of young goal shooter Willow Conlan, who shot 36 of her team’s 41 goals for the match in another impressive display from the developing goaler.
Along with Conlan, the Tigers were also well served by veteran defender Rachel McLaughlin, whose experience and smarts caused constant problems for Tyntynder’s attacking third.
FINAL WHISTLE
TYNTYNDER 50
WOORINEN 45
