Fierce rivalry resumes in netball semis

SWAN Hill and the Mallee Eagles will meet at Riverside Park on Saturday, with the winner to be the first team through to this year’s grand final – and claim premiership favouritism in the process.

The two teams have met twice this season, with the record standing at one win each. The Swans claimed a 12-goal win in round 2 before the Eagles turned the tables with a sevn-goal victory in round 12. That loss was Swan Hill’s only defeat of the season and came off the back of the Eagles’ full-court pressure, as well as a day out for dominant shooters Kellie Walker and Emelia Shannahan.

While no doubt disappointed with the result that day, Swan Hill coach Madeleine Nalder said her team would still take a lot out of that game.

“There’s not much between the two teams – they beat us back in round 12 and took control of that game,” Nalder said.

“We’ve taken some learnings from that day, not just about them but also ourselves and with a few things we needed to sharpen up on just to try and set up the second half of our season.

“We focused on our consistency, effort and pressure since then and hopefully we can bring that into the game on Saturday. We know it’s not going to be played on our terms all game, but we’re going to try and play our game for as long as we can and, when we don’t, we’ll need to work hard to try and stem the flow.”

Saturday’s game will be the Swans’ first of the 2022 finals series, having enjoyed the weekend off after finishing on top of the ladder. While it might be their first taste of finals for some years due to COVID-19, perennial finalists Swan Hill are no stranger to playing at the pointy end of the season and played in the last grand final against Woorinen in 2019.

The Eagles are no strangers to finals netball either, with their five-goal win over Balranald in last Saturday’s qualifying final giving them yet another boost of confidence that their best form is capable of beating anyone.

Vicki McDonald’s team have been the most prolific scorers in the competition this season, scoring over 200 goals more than Swan Hill in the home-and-away competition. While the Eagles are clearly a strong attacking team, they can also be scored against going back the other way and have conceded the most goals of any of the remaining teams in the competition.

It’s a factor that McDonald is aware of and will be keeping a close eye on as the game progresses, with the Eagles coach hoping her team’s pressure through the midcourt can help restrict their opposition’s ball movement and lighten the load on the Allen sisters in defence.

“Our defence will really have their work cut out for them – they’re (Swan Hill) a very fast team and are well drilled and know how each other play, having spent a number of years together,” McDonald said.

“There’s very little that’s separated either side all season and I think it will come down to which team wins the big moments on the day and can make the most of their time with the momentum when it’s in their favour.

“They are a very classy team and have set a really high benchmark across the season – it’s going to need to be a whole- team contribution from us in order to get the job done.”

Nalder agreed, saying that the result would likely come down to which team won the big moments – with the Swans coach also noting that her side would need a big performance from her defenders against the powerful Mallee Eagles goalies in order to go straight through to the grand final.

“They have great scoring capacity with Emelia (Shannahan) and Kellie (Walker) – they are a really powerful combination and we are going to have to work really hard across the court to get the ball into our hands and out of theirs,” Nalder said.

“We’re aware that they score very quickly, which means they can take a game away from you very quickly as well.

“Our pressure will have to be right up there and stay up there consistently for the whole day because they are the most attacking team in the league – so we’ll have to try and pressure them as much as we can and force them into turnovers.”

Karli McIntyre’s return for the Swans tips the ledger just slightly in their favour, in what should be one of the most anticipated A Grade semi-finals in recent memory.

Tip – Swan Hill to win by 1 goal.