By Justin Flynn
Fresh from a 47 to 38 win against Geelong West, North Geelong has a fortnight off before making the trip to take on Anakie in a split-round 13 of Geelong & District Netball League.
The Magpies have won two of their last four games and while finals are out of the equation this season, coach Ainsley Smith said things were tracking well at Osborne Park.
“We’ve got a three-year plan, this being the first year,” she said.
“This was definitely known as our building year. Next year is more to do with our structure and hopefully the third year is aiming for finals.”
Smith said the club had depth with the Magpies’ B, C and D Grades all sitting in the top three.
“We’ve recruited really hard,” she said.
“We’re trying to change it around that we’re strong from the top down, not the other way around. So I think for us as a whole to finish off this year for A Grade is just to really work on building and keeping that team morale, keeping the structures strong so that we know that we’ve got them for next year.”
North Geelong set the win against the Giants up in the second quarter when it scored 17 goals to eight.
“I think we’ve got a very strong defensive line up, but actually our attacking end matched that,” Smith said.
“I feel like we are strong in our defence and tend to fall a little bit behind in the attack end. So I feel like it was nice to have the ends matched yesterday.”
North’s two gun defenders – Sigrid Mulhearn and Britney Mitchell – were at their best while young goaler Brodie Marston drew praise from her coach.
“She had her highest scoring quarter she’s ever had in A Grade, so that was a really big quarter for her and a big improvement from her,” Smith said.
“Brody is a junior and not usually our starting goal shooter. She’s been working really hard to get that position. And with some girls away this week that opened up for her and she’s really proved herself over the last couple of weeks. (I was) really proud of how she’s gone.”
With a weekend off, the attention will turn to the improved young Anakie side on July 13.
“I think last time, if I recall correctly, we seemed to match them quite well for the first half and then fell a little bit away after that,” Smith said.
“So I think we really need to focus on our third quarter, which is where we tend to drop it a little bit. We played Corio last week, the top team, and we went down, but we could still walk away happy because we beat them in the third quarter, which was a big focus for us, not letting that blow out happen.”
CORIO kept its unbeaten season intact with a six-goal win against Werribee Centrals with goalers Jorden Nichols and Jordyn Fairchild starring.
EAST GEELONG is well and truly in the race for the minor premiership after a 66-goal win against Bell Post Hill. Goal attack Mary Waldron and wing defence Claudia Cook were best while midcourter Xenia Allen was best for the Panthers.
BANNOCKBURN defeated Anakie by 17 goals to keep its double-chance hopes alive. Alana Nicol was damaging through the middle while goal shooter Ella Wasik was on target with 48 at 94 percent accuracy.
WINCHELSEA got a huge fright from Thomson before scraping home by the barest of margins. Zoe Tennant was great at wing defence and Rhiannon Williams strong in defence. Goal attack Shae Rowbottom was Thomson’s best.
BELMONT worked hard to record a 13-goal win against Inverleigh with goal shooter Angelique Ross dominant while Hayley Wilson was good for the Hawks.
