A 12-goal-to-five first quarter has helped Swan Hill to set up a mouth-watering second-semi-final encounter against Lake Boga this Saturday, with the Swans claiming an eight-goal win over Balranald in Saturday’s qualifying final.
The Swans were first out of the blocks and opened up a seven-goal lead by the first break before being forced by a determined Roos outfit to fight for the win over the remaining three quarters.
Despite their competitive display after quarter-time, Balranald were unable to reduce the margin in the difficult conditions, with the reigning premiers eventually recording a 40-32 victory.
It was win born of hard work, according to Swan Hill co-coach Madeleine Nalder, with her team already looking forward to testing themselves against the Central Murray’s yardstick after Saturday’s win.
“It was tight pretty much all game really,” Nalder said.
“We got out to a bit of a lead during the first quarter but they (Balranald) pegged us back and it was pretty tight from then on.
“We were pretty happy to come away with the win and we’re just looking forward to next week with a big challenge against (Lake) Boga.
“They (Lake Boga) have been the benchmark for the last couple of years really and we have a challenge ahead of us, but we’re looking forward to seeing how we go.
“We’ve only played them the once this year and they gave us a touch-up so we’ll have a think about the things that we’ll need to improve on and hit Saturday full of running.”
With conditions making scoring difficult, it was the defensive ends for both teams that dominated proceedings, with Balranald’s Elli-Jane Pollard restricting Zoe Morris to 24 goals for the game and Swan Hill’s Stevie Bibby keeping dangerous goaler Ella Mirtschin to just 14 goals.
The match-up between Pollard and Morris was always going to be a pivotal one, with co-coach Pollard receiving praise for her performance from her fellow coach Jess Parry despite the Roos being on the wrong end of the result.
“The match-up against Zoe (Morris) and Elli (Pollard) is always a good one,” Parry said.
“I think that’s one of our strengths.
“The taller dominant shooters who we come up against we have the keeper who can match them.
“Both Elli and Grace (Morton) both played amazingly.
“Our defensive end really stood up and our attackers were great as well.
“They’ve had to gel as a team within our team with injuries and stuff throughout the season and they’ve come a long way.
“The way that Ella (Mirtschin) and Bec (Harvey) pulled together yesterday with the wind, I was really proud of how they all played.”
Nalder was similarly pleased with her defensive end and midcourt, with Bibby, Holly Rogers and Karli McIntyre among the Swans’ better players.
“I feel like it was pretty evenly matched,” Nalder said.
“It was one of those games that probably could have gone either way.
“I guess that’s finals netball in many respects.
“We were just happy that we were on the winning side of it.
“It was a close game but we were happy that we stuck at it.
“We responded when they had great passages of play and were able to either wrestle back the momentum or go goal for goal just to settle at times.”
While the Swans will face the minor premiers for the first spot in this year’s grand final this Saturday at Woorinen, Balranald will have to contend with a rampant Mallee Eagles in Sunday’s first semi-final, with the loser set to have their premiership hopes extinguished for another season.
“We’ll take a huge amount of confidence from Saturday’s game,” Parry said.
“It’s always disappointing to lose a final but at the same time I was really proud of how the girls played it out.
“Our first quarter was probably a bit slow and let us down in the end, but as for the other three quarters we were right up there with them.
“I think we can match them really well, if not beat them on our day – we just have to get through next week now.
“I think we play our best netball under pressure so the fact now that we don’t have a second chance, the girls will find another level of hunger and another gear.
“We’ll work really hard at training this week to adjust a few things and make sure we do everything we can to get the result on the weekend.”
Final Whistle
Swan Hill 40
Balranald 32
