FOUR of the five matches in Saturday’s penultimate round of Central Murray netball action will have a major bearing on the make-up of this year’s finals series.
A lot of attention will be on teams outside the top five and fighting to get in, with Cohuna Kangas (sixth) hosting Woorinen (seventh) in their final game of the home-and-away season, a must-win for both teams.
It’s a similar situation for Nyah-Nyah West United and Tooleybuc-Manangatang, who will both be out for upset wins against Balranald and Swan Hill in an attempt to crack open the race for fifth spot.
Lake Boga’s home game against Mallee Eagles will grab most attention. Both the Magpies (second) and Eagles (third) find themselves on 48 points for the season – but with Balranald just two points behind them, the reality is they are essentially fighting it out for a qualifying final berth – and the sought-after second chance.
The last time both teams met was in round 7, with the Eagles coming out on top with a 10-goal win. Despite the final margin, Eagles coach Vicki McDonald was quick to point out to The Guardian that little separated the two sides until late in the last quarter.
“We’ll definitely take something out of that last win against (Lake Boga) – they’re a good team right across the court, with the Hepburn girls in goals and Jemma Meehan is strong in defence, while their coach Anna (Archie) in the centre is a really strong contributor to their team as well,” McDonald said.
“The Hepburn girls were dominant last time – so if we can shut them down across centre court and help out our defence, then that will play a major part in us getting the job done.
“It’ll be a tough game, because they never dropped away last time we played them and I’d expect much the same tomorrow.
“If they bring their A game then they’ll be a hard team to beat, so we’ve just got to go out and play hard against them and take the game on.
“We can’t let our guard down at all, especially since they’ve been playing some really good netball of late. But with that said, no game from this point forward will be easy for us and we need to be prepared for that.”
The Eagles have steadily improved as the season has progressed, to the point where they are considered one of the main challengers for the premiership – although a loss tomorrow would no doubt severely dent those prospects.
While well aware of what’s at stake on Saturday, McDonald was instead focused on her team continuing to improve and building towards their finals campaign.
“Lake Boga will be a tough game, that’s for sure, but we’re just going to go out there and play our game and start preparing for finals, regardless of the result,” McDonald said.
“Every other team has improved as the season’s gone – every team’s a tough team to play now.
“We just need to make sure we’re prepared each Saturday and go into every game ready to play – don’t want to lower your guard now that we’re at this point of the season.”
The Eagles will welcome back goal shooter Kellie Walker to their line-up after their leading shooter missed their 51-goal win over Kerang a fortnight ago. Walker will be a key player for the visitors, along with Emelia Shannahan, who starred against Lake Boga in their previous encounter this season.
But while the Mallee team, who have scored 139 more goals than their nearest opponents Swan Hill will be looking to play their usual attacking style, it’s at the other end of the court where the match is likely to be decided, with the Eagles Allen sisters to get the job of shutting down Lake Boga’s Hepburn girls.
“Our main focus this week will shutting down the Hepburn girls – they’re beautiful players and they combine really well together, so I think that will be our main focus and our main aim tomorrow afternoon,” McDonald said.
“They’re really important players for them and really strong goalies, they never miss so reducing their impact on the game will be a massive focus for us.”
Elsewhere, Cohuna and Woorinen will put their seasons on the line, with the loser to be eliminated from finals calculations. The Kangas hold a two-point ladder advantage over the Tigers, but will play their final home-and-away game for the season on Saturday and a win is a must if they are to overtake NNW United to grab fifth place.
The Tigers need the four points just as desperately as a loss would leave them six points behind the Kangas and out of the finals race.
Much will depend on Woorinen’s defence of Emily Free and the experienced Tessa Demaria negating the impact of Cohuna’s damaging pairing of Carmen Dye and Kobie McIvor, while providing their own goalies Zoe Steicke and Emily Siely with enough opportunities to post a winning score.
Both Balranald and NNW United have their finals destiny in their own hands despite disappointing results last Saturday. Last year’s minor premiers Balranald find themselves fourth after their 14-goal loss to ladder leaders Swan Hill last weekend. A win is a must if they want to break back into the top three.
The Demons need the four points to hold off the winner of the Cohuna-Woorinen match. While United have continually improved this season and have begun to gel more as a team, they will need to turn around the 14-goal margin from their earlier meeting with Balranald in round 7.
It will be a similar story for Tooleybuc-Manangatang, who like Woorinen find themselves two points outside the top five, but with a much harder run home. The Saints need to not only beat Swan Hill but also follow up by defeating Lake Boga in the last round to be any chance of playing in the elimination final.
Swan Hill are sitting pretty on top of the ladder following their win over Balranald last Saturday, with the Swans now in prime position to end the season as minor premiers.
The final game of round 17 will take place at Alan Garden Reserve, with ninth-placed Tyntynder looking for their fourth win of the season against A Grade newcomers Kerang.
