BOTH Mallee Eagles and Woorinen will be competing for more than just bragging rights when the two undefeated clubs meet out at Tigerland Saturday afternoon.
One of the Eagles or Tigers will sit on top of the ladder come 2pm Saturday, with the winner to also assume the tag of premiership favourites with a 4-0 start to their season.
For Woorinen, Saturday’s match against the Eagles will be their first real examination, with Woorinen co-coach Tayla Bennett aware her younger players will need to take their game up another gear to compete with last year’s preliminary finalists.
“I think it’ll be a nice test, both mentally and physically, we’ve been playing some pretty good netball throughout each quarter in our earlier games, but we know that it’s going to take a solid effort for the full four quarters to win this weekend,” Bennett told The Guardian this week.
“I think we’ve been having a few lapses every now and then so I think for a few of us older experienced girls it’s about teaching the younger girls the mental aspects of the game.
“That can be challenging at times so we’ve been trying to use the rolling sub a little bit more to help educate the younger girls
“They (Mallee Eagles) are a strong side and they have plenty of options across the court so you’re not always sure what you’re coming up against.
“But in saying that, I think it will be a challenge and a test to them as well to match up on us and I think the one-on-one match up’s are going to be very important this weekend.”
While Woorinen will go into the highly anticipated clash without Tessa Demaria, the Mallee Eagles are set to be at full strength, with Julia Amezdroz returning after being a late withdrawal for last Saturday’s win over Koondrook-Barham.
Amezdroz’s return will give the Eagles options in their goal ring, with Megan Thorneycroft, Mikayla O’Meara and Gemma Miller all sharing the goal shooting duties against the Raiders.
But it’s at the other end of the court where Eagles co-coach Alicia Harvey is expecting the action to be, with Woorinen’s Bennett and Willow Conlan set to lock horns against the Eagles star defenders Nevaeh Roberts and Jemma Meehan.
“Tayla (Bennett) is quite strong goalie, along with Willow (Conlan) as well, so them having that strength in the air in their goaling areas is an advantage that we know that they have,” Harvey said.
“Being able to shut that down is an area of their game that we’ll be focusing on, but they (Woorinen) are strong all across the court and can’t be just be focused on that one area either.
“They (Bennett and Conlan) are both quite dominant goalies and they are very similar in the way they play, they know exactly how to move and use their body to their advantage very well.
“Nevaeh (Roberts) and Jemma (Meehan) have been slowly gelling as the seasons progressed and their split ring and their switches are progressing throughout the season as well.
“It’s definitely going to be an interesting match-up between all four of them.”
The other key battleground promises to be through the midcourt, with the Mallee Eagles settled line-up of Lily Brennan, Kasey Torr and Harvey all having the capacity to transition the ball from defence to attack in the blink of an eye.
It will be the Eagles speed that Woorinen will need to close down, along with their accurate feeds into the ring.
As strong as the Eagles are through the centre third, the Tigers midcourt can be equally damaging with the likes of Lily Den Houting, Ava Crow, Chloe Militto and Eva Bolton all able to rotate through and change roles to suit their match-up’s.
While very little separates the two teams, it may well come down to each sides top end talent – and with Demaria out for the Tigers, that should be advantage Eagles.
Tip – Mallee Eagles to win by two goals.
