By Justin Flynn
Anakie has already more than doubled last season’s Geelong & District Netball League win tally and coach Doug Mitchell is pleased with the way his very young side has played.
The Roos are in fourth place on the ladder with seven wins after knocking off Thomson by one goal on the weekend. Last year they won three matches and finished 10th.
“We’ve probably got four girls that are still playing in the (under) 17s and some of our ‘older’ girls are 22, then we’ve got a 21-year-old – it’s a really young crew,” Mitchell said.
“We know we’re not favourites every game but if we play well we can compete and we’re just trying to reduce the scores and the gap from last season and I think we’re doing that. I think Thomson put 91 on us last year.”
Anakie came from two goals down to snatch victory on Saturday without goal defence Madison Colbert.
It meant some reshuffling by Mitchell, who turned to several players to fill the void, including Daisy Lawrie.
“She (Colbert) has just got a little bit of height and rebounding ability so we were just a little bit short in there this week,” he said.
“She (Lawrie) probably won us the game, to be honest. I coached Daisy in under 17s rep so I knew that she could do it and I just had to make sure that her position was covered as well because she’d been playing really well (at wing attack).
“So I had to take away a little bit of strength there, but had just enough strength on the bench to cover that at the end of the day. But she made a big difference in there and also Jemma Nelson, who’s probably our third or maybe even fourth backup shooter, she did really well at GK in the last quarter as well. It’s not a position that she’s familiar with, but I’ve told her that she needs to play both ends if she’s not in the (top) one or two shooters.”
Mitchell said the reshuffling meant he had to quell the influence of Thomson wing attack Shannyn Leach. He turned to daughter and captain Eden Mitchell.
“She probably picked up four intercepts during the game and then she really slowed them down,” he said.
Anakie faces third-placed Winchelsea this week and then fifth-placed Bannockburn.
“We’re definitely not favourites against Winchelsea,” Mitchell said.
“They were the top team last year before finals obviously and I remember watching that game from the sidelines so I know a lot of their strengths so we just have to try to negate a little bit. We just need to stick to our game and see if we can keep their scoring down and then a few turnovers every now and then might help us. They (Anakie’s players) go into the game with no fear and no baggage from last year.
“We’ve got a couple of hard games, but even if we drop those games, I’d still be happy and confident that the teams that we have already beaten, we could possibly beat again.”
Mitchell said the improved performance of the club’s senior footy team is contributing to a strong culture at Anakie.
“It makes it handy, I’ll tell you,” he said.
“You get a bit of a crowd down there and the footballers come over and watch the netball as well so it’s a really good vibe at the moment. It’s just a really good community down there.”
