Bell Park coach Jayne Soden is glad her side’s stop-start season will finally start to gain momentum.
The Dragons are yet to play more than two consecutive weeks this season, but with some continuity to come in the second half of the year, Soden is hopeful her team can make a run towards the Geelong Netball League A Grade finals.
“The first half of our season we’ve really been up against it because we haven’t had more than two games in a row without a bye interrupting the next week,” Soden said.
“It’s been something like in the first nine weeks of netball we’ve only played like four or five games. So that’s been up against us and it has been hard for us to get our momentum.”
On Saturday June 7, Bell Park got the job done against Grovedale, winning 61 to 45.
“I think the fact that we continued to extend (the lead) every quarter,” Soden said when asked what pleased her most about the win.
“We had a couple of moments where things happened and the girls would have a bit of a laugh about it on court. What I noticed the difference was that the vibe was quite high and the laughs on court were like an acknowledgement of a few of the mistakes that were being made in the past and that they were working at it on court more consistently.
“So it was really good to string four quarters of consistent netball together and having a win is always good for team morale, especially when you have been playing some of the top teams and losing.”
Bell Park’s best on Saturday was goal attack Rebecca Trenerry, who combined brilliantly with shooter Makaela Connelly, who aced 55 goals from 58 attempts.
“Her (Trenerry) playmaking was unbelievable,” Soden said.
“She has played wing attack for most of her career and she stepped into that goal attack position for us this season. She did a really good job setting up a lot of balls into Makaela and probably passing off a lot of the goals that she should have been shooting herself.
“Makaela’s shooting is outstanding. She’s so accurate under the ring and she’s such a strong holder.”
The Dragons will start favourites against bottom side St Albans this week and Soden said there was no reason her side shouldn’t aim to play finals this season.
“Newtown (& Chilwell) and Joeys (St Joseph’s) are just phenomenal – they’re at such a high standard when you come up against them,” she said.
“But I really do believe that there is room for probably four, five, six and seven positions. We unfortunately had a loss against Lara, which I’m really hoping doesn’t come back to bite us at the end of the season, but if we can win some of those games against St Mary’s and Leopold and those sort of teams then we could challenge for that fifth position.”
ELLEN Doyle scored an incredible 96 goals for South Barwon in a thumping 118 to 18 win against St Albans. Doyle missed just three shots for the entire game in a dominant performance.
St JOSEPH’S defeated Newtown & Chilwell to take top spot on the ladder. Joeys won 44 to 33 to leapfrog the Eagles on the ladder.
LARA and Leopold played a thrilling tie with both sides on 52 goals at the final buzzer. Lara led by seven at the final change, but the Polders hit back with Charlotte Murray starring at goal attack while Sharni Van Doren was just as good for the Cats.
GEELONG West is in fourth spot after a 73 to 43 win against Colac with goal shooter Aleisha McDonald scoring 57 goals from 64 attempts.
