KOONDROOK-BARHAM
PROFILE
A NEW season brings new opportunity for Koondrook-Barham’s A Grade side, with the wooden-spooners’ only aim to be as competitive as they can be.
The River Raiders have now gone winless for the past two seasons. It was particularly disastrous end to last season, losing to Balranald by 89 goals in round 15 and to Woorinen by 96 goals in 16.
Coach Grant Matthews will continue to lead the struggling side this season.
While Matthews has won 16 premierships as a coach since 2004 at clubs including Mathoura, Katandra, Echuca, Echuca United and the Deniliquin Rovers, he admitted it was going to be a tough ask to get the Raiders back on the winners’ list this season.
“I think it’s probably going to be a bit tough again for the club,” he said.
“We’re probably not going to expect any more or less than last year based on having lost a couple of players to university and one or two to retirement, which is going to make it a little bit harder.”
Lily Molin, Tess Doyle and Ella Lodge will be among the players heading off to university. Club stalwart Rachel Robertson will also not be taking to the court this season, retiring at the end of last year, while Emily Fasham heads to the Swans and Shanae O’Donoghue continues to recover from an injury.
Reigning club best-and-fairest Remy Doyle will continue to be a pillar in the midcourt. Danica Bloomfield will also don the red, yellow and blue for another season, as will Tlarnee Lake, who returns to the court after a 12-month break.
Matthews admitted they had struggled to find new recruits for their senior grades, and would instead focus on developing their younger players and giving them a taste of senior netball throughout the year.
“We will just continue to focus on what we have within the club, continue our development, developing our juniors, and allowing some of our senior players that were playing A Reserve and B Grade last year a chance to step up,” Matthews said.
“The club is just going to work hard within the confinements of what we’ve got, keep being positive and try to progress.”
It will be small steps for the Raiders this season, but Matthews said the only competition they are really competing with is themselves.
“They have got nothing to prove, they have just got to keep improving on their own aspects of the game, whatever that may be,” Matthews said.
“Obviously your top five or six teams are going to be in the elite process again with their player personnel and numbers, and we just have to compete as hard as we can against them and just keep the positivity and development up.
“Hopefully as coaches we can provide those avenues for them, and hopefully we can put those skillsets into their games and see it on display.”
FROM THE COACH
“The club is just going to work hard within the confinements of what we’ve got, keep being positive and try to progress.”
PLAYER TO WATCH
Remy Doyle: Last year’s best and fairest will continue to play an important role for the Raiders. Currently taking part in the Bendigo Strikers elite coaching pathways program, Doyle will look to take her own game to the next level, and breathe life and energy into the Raiders’ midcourt.
INS & OUTS
INS: Tlarnee Lake.
OUTS: Emily Fasham (Swan Hill), Rachel Robertson, Shanae O’Donoghue, Lily Molin, Tess Doyle, Ella Lodge.
