WORRINEN will be bolstered by several key inclusions for Saturday’s must-win game against rivals Swan Hill – with the Tigers hopeful former Diamonds defender Sharni Layton is among them.
Layton will be part of the Woorinen line-up for the afternoon, but it’s the returns of Willow Conlan, Ava Crow and Courtney Lolicato that has the yellow and black army really excited ahead of their match-up against last years grand finallists.
Conlan is expected to be the most important inclusion, with the talented shooter set to resume her partnership alongside Tigers co-coach Tayla Bennett, with Bennett expecting improvement at both ends of the court from her team against the Swans.
“I think we all feel that our attacking line and our defensive line can both improve,” Bennett told The Guardian this week.
“We’ve probably been coasting along a little bit and we know that there’s another level that we can achieve and I feel like just paring things back and really focusing on those small wins will help us improve in both areas.
“I just feel like there’s more that we can give at each end of the court to back each other up and support each other and I think we’ll be looking for that this weekend.”
While the Tigers will be bolstered by several key returns, Swan Hill will be missing experienced goal shooter Kelly Bonney, with her absence likely to leave a big hole for the Swans to fill.
Helping to offset Bonney’s absence will be the returns of Karli McIntrye and Ava Seymour, with the Swans likely to undergo some positional changes as a result.
Although McIntyre and Seymour will give the Swans a boost of speed through the midcourt, Saturday’s match against the third placed Tigers still presents as a tough task for her young squad, according to Swan Hill coach Casey Frame.
“I think going off the score lines and knowing the team that Woorinen have, they are a top two team in the league in my opinion,” Frame said.
“It’s obviously going to be really hard, but I think what we want to aim at is to just go out there and be competitive.
“We want to keep on improving and I feel like last week it was a shame that we didn’t have our full team together, but we get Ava (Seymour) and Karli (McIntyre) back this week and even though we still won’t have a full squad, we just want to try and keep on improving on the things that we’ve been working on.
“You never know how our match ups will go against them, but with Tayla being in goal shooter, she’s going to be very hard to defend.
“They have a lot of depth there in their goal ring with Willow and Eva (Bolton) coming in, and then Ava as well who has played A Grade for a lot of years now and knows what to do.
“We’re going to have to work hard, but I’m hopeful that we can really challenge them and be competitive.”
Although the Tigers deserve to go into the match as clear favourites, Bennett will be taking no chances against the long-time Central Murray powerhouses, with the Tigers co-coach expecting a tough contest despite the oppositions indifferent start to the season.
“They (Swan Hill) still have a lot of experience throughout their side and the youth that have coming through are all very talented,” Bennett said.
“They’re always so competitive and they have a winner’s mentality and I’m sure they will view this game as an opportunity and we’re expecting them to come for us, especially with where they’re sitting.
“We can’t take them for granted at all; their line-up is still quite versatile so it will be a tough game for us no doubt.”
Tip – Woorinen to win by eight goals.
