Lara’s youthful Geelong Netball League A Grade squad could be primed for bigger things this season.
The Cats started the season off with a 64 to 28 win against St Albans with 16-year-old defender Millie van Diemen best on court and another 16-year-old, Tilly Baker, set to join the squad in the next few weeks after she recovers from injury.
“My captain (Sharni Van Doren) is 21, I have two 16-year-olds and a couple of 20-year-olds,” coach Chris Camilleri said.
“We have two older players – Bridget (Kelly) who is 41 and Tori (Hoffman) who is about 30, but apart from that, the rest are all quite young, so it’s a good feel around the club at the moment.”
In very warm conditions, Lara never looked like losing and finished the game strongly, scoring 15 goals to three in the final quarter.
“That last quarter I specifically said this is where we’ve got teams down, we need to actually up it and don’t ease off,” Camilleri said.
“I know it’s hot, everyone’s tired, but I want you to really up the pressure and put the sword to them. Really go for it and to their credit they did. The game slowed down in the last quarter. Everyone was pretty bloody hot and tired but they just kept the pressure on.”
Camilleri was most pleased with his side’s defensive efforts.
“Our defence was great, but it was a full-court defence,” he said.
“The attackers were working really hard to defend also, which made a big difference. Leading the defence was my 16-year-old (van Diemen), who was fantastic yesterday. She played predominantly (as a) keeper, but also in goal defence. The way we transitioned from defence to attack was something we worked on during the week, which we hope to build on.”
While there is a long season ahead, Camilleri said success for his side would be continued improvement.
“I wouldn’t be talking finals or anything,” he said.
“You never know as the season goes on, but as long as I can see improvement going into next season. I would hope for us to be moving up towards the middle of the ladder somewhere. If it’s beyond that great, but I’d still be looking to develop these girls over the next two years or so.
“Now that we’ve got a stable base, we can keep that there for the next three to five years and build a strong foundation.
“Hopefully I can build a strong young team instead of trying to recruit older players and bring them in like a lot of clubs do. I prefer to have them homegrown so that we can keep them there for five years at least, not just people who only play for a short period.”
Newtown & Chilwell showed it will again be there at the business end of the season with a 63 to 39 win against a gallant Bell Park. The familiar trio of Vanessa Augustini at wing attack, Ruby Pekin-Schlicht in defence and Natalie Tommasini in midcourt proved too good although Madison O’Keefe was superb for Bell Park.
South Barwon defeated Grovedale 72 to 30 and was in control all game. Olivia Cameron, Ellen Doyle and Monique Parker were rotated in attack very effectively while Taylar Borg was good in midcourt for the Tigers.
Geelong West was super impressive in its 52 to 38 win against St Mary’s. Goal attack Rachel Palmer-Brennan was best and Karina Martin was terrific in defence. Eliza Brown did all she could in defence for St Mary’s.
St Joseph’s defeated Leopold 63 to 16 with Ella Closter on fire in attack, contributing 46 goals.
