WITH the top four teams locked in – excepting the final finishing order – most of the attention sounding the final home-and-away round of Central Murray netball will be focused on one game.
At Tigerland, with Woorinen and Nyah-Nyah West United are set to lock horns and decide who claims fifth place in the finals series.
The Tigers find themselves in the top five for the first time this season after their three-goal win over the Cohuna Kangas last Saturday, while NNW United, who had been sitting in fifth place since midway through the season, now need to beat Woorinen in order to finish in the top five.
The Demons have been one of the surprise packets this season under new coach Laura Anderson, coming from the bottom of the ladder to sit within reach of the finals for the first time in recent memory.
While they will be facing perennial finalists and reigning premiers Woorinen in what amounts to an elimination final before the elimination final, Anderson was still focused on her own team producing their best – and not what their opposition will do.
“We have spoken about there being no second chances from this point forward, but we’re more focused on just playing our game,” Anderson said.
“They’re a great team and have been for a long time, but we don’t want to be getting distracted by what our opposition brings to the table, which I think we’ve been guilty of a bit in the past few weeks – and instead we just need to focus on our game and what we need to do to win.”
It’s a similar story at Woorinen, where coach Olivia Jones is more concerned with her team playing their best netball when it matters most – and continuing the good form they showed seven days before against the Kangas.
“We went into that game with the knowledge that it was do or die from that moment on, so we were pretty pumped to take home the win,” Jones said.
“We definitely know that were going into a tough game this weekend. In round 1 (against NNW United) we got beaten pretty well, so we know it will be a tough game for us.
“But we’re very determined to pull off the win. We’ve got quite a few younger players who have played juniors at the club and we think it would be an amazing experience for them to play in an A Grade finals series, so our motivation for this weekend is to try and pull out a win and do it for the ones who haven’t been there before.”
In that round 1 game, NNW United defeated Woorinen by 16 goals, with the Demons outscoring the Tigers by 13 goals in the second half on their way to an upset result. While that victory helped United to set up their season, a lot has changed between now and then, according to Anderson.
“It was a long time ago, round 1, and I think both teams have obviously improved since the start of the season, so it’s hard to know exactly what to expect.
“They had a couple of players out that day, too, from memory, and I’m sure there’ll be a few players in different positions to what they were at the start of the season as well.”
Jones agreed with Anderson’s thoughts on their earlier encounter, pointing out that her young side had become a lot more comfortable in the weeks that followed.
“We had a few out in round 1, including Jamiee Beasy, so we’ll have a very different side playing this time around and hopefully we’ll see a few different results come out of that as well,” Jones said.
“We’re a bit stronger, having played together all season as well, and we’ve worked out how everyone plays together and what we need to do to have a successful weekend.”
With both teams having strong midcourt players, it’s likely to be the respective defensive combinations where the match will be won and lost.
NNW United’s Bridie Curran has developed into a strong foil for her attacking teammate Denise Snyder as the season has progressed, while at the other end Woorinen’s pairing of Zoe Steicke and Emily Siely will also take some stopping.
With Tessa Demaria likely to play on one of Curran or Snyder and negate their influence on the match, that will only raise the need for Demons Matika Mitchell and Zoe Gray to step up and nullify the Tigers’ attackers, according to Anderson.
“I think our defensive end needs to play very well for us to be in the game,” Anderson said.
“We’ll definitely be looking for them to create some turnovers, but then we obviously need to convert it up the other end as well.
“We’ve been in some pretty good form lately, which has been nice, but at the same time we’re still trying to focus on our game and what we need to do – hopefully we’re able to step up and meet the challenge and play at our best, which is all I can ask of the girls.”
While the winner of the Woorinen-NNW United match will finalise the top five, who they play won’t be known until after the weekend, with Balranald, the Mallee Eagles and Lake Boga all locked together on 50 points.
While all three will go into their respective games as favourites, a false step from either of them would likely force them to drop to fourth and face an elimination final.
Balranald, who will play Tyntynder, and the Mallee Eagles, who face Koondrook-Barham, are in the box seat courtesy of their superior percentage.
Lake Boga, who are fourth on the ladder and play Tooleybuc-Manangatang, need either the Roos or Eagles to falter – or make up the 48-goal difference between them and Mallee in order to leapfrog them into the qualifying final.
The final game of the round will be between ladder leaders Swan Hill and Kerang, with the Swans to go in as heavy favourites to beat the Blues.
