FOR the second weekend in a row, Balranald will face a top-three battle, with the Roos set to travel to Lake Boga and face the Magpies on Saturday.
Balranald came out with a heart-stopping one-goal win over the Mallee Eagles in one of the games of the season last Saturday and will be perfectly placed to repeat the dose against the now third-placed Magpies.
Lake Boga had a comfortable 28-goal win over Cohuna in a much-improved performance, according to Lake Boga coach Anna Archie, who spoke with The Guardian this week.
“Last week was a game that we didn’t want to take lightly – (Cohuna) have gone under the radar a little bit this year and have performed really well against some of the top sides,” Archie said.
“We thought it was a good chance for us to really start the second half of our season off on the right foot, especially coming off the back of the Tyntynder game with only a four-goal win – we really needed redeem ourselves and show what we were capable of off that back of that game.”
Balranald, looking for their fourth straight win, will pose a much bigger challenge and need to keep the heat on top side Swan Hill.
Archie, however, was confident that her team was more than ready to meet the challenge – even with a couple of key players’ availability under question ahead of the must-win encounter.
“It’s obviously one of the bigger games we’ve been faced with so far this season, especially with both teams sitting inside the top three – but our girls are coming along nicely and I’m pretty confident we’ll put in a good showing,” Archie said.
“We’ll have a couple of girls who are in a bit of doubt with injury and illness, but I think most teams are like that at the moment, unfortunately.
“But we’ll give them every chance to get themselves fit and ready to go come Saturday afternoon and then hopefully we’ll have all eight girls fit and ready to go.”
Balranald coach Jess Parry is the one player the Magpies will need to stop, with the Roos’ GA continuing the sparkling form that won her the league A Grade best-and-fairest last season. The big question is whether Jemma Meehan or Felicity Robertson poses the better match-up for Parry – and who would be better suited to stopping GS Ella Mirtschin.
On the flip side, the Lake Boga midcourt team is where the Roos will have to focus much of their attention, with Anna Archie, Emma Peacock, Lily Brennan and Taigan O’Shannassy ability to work up and down the court one of the Magpies big strengths.
Archie’s attention is clearly on what her side is capable of and making sure they produce their best netball.
“I think any coach would like to think their full-court presence is their strength – for us, we’re just going to focus on what we do and what we can control and just try and play our best netball,” Archie said.
“Our consistency across the whole team will be another big focus, too, as I don’t think we’ve really put a full four-quarter performance together this season as yet and had our attack, midcourt and defence all at their best on the same day.
“There’s often one area of our game that has a bit of a lull, so having that consistency across the court and working on our processes as a team will be really important for us.
“Balranald have a very good side and will be really hard to beat. They have some fantastic netballers that will pose some significant challenges, but our focus just has to be about what we can control and not about them so much.”
While a lot of attention will be focused on the happenings at Lake Boga, there will still be a number of other important contests taking place across the region with implications for those fighting for a top-five berth.
The Mallee Eagles will host sixth-placed Tooleybuc-Manangatang, who find themselves just one win outside the top five in a logjam along with Woorinen and the Cohuna Kangas.
While the Saints have been big improvers in recent weeks, they will need to take a big step forward if they are going to challenge the Eagles and force their way into the top five for the first time this season.
Woorinen will also be up against when they host ladder leaders Swan Hill. Swan Hill have shown themselves to be the yardstick this season and will no doubt prove hard to beat if they bring their best netball.
In the final game of round 11 the Cohuna Kangas travel to Alan Garden Reserve to face Tyntynder, with the Kangas perhaps the best chance of the three challengers to join the Demons on five wins.
