LOSS GIVES JOEYS HOPE
But Eagles roll to 12th win of season
ST JOSEPH’S co-coach Kirsten Hood insists Saturday’s 12-goal loss to Newtown & Chilwell did nothing to dent her side’s premiership hopes.
Falling to the unbeaten reigning premier, Hood was confident her Joeys could close the gap in September.
Opening an eight-goal lead early, Newtown was never headed, running out a 50-38 winner at Elderslie Reserve.
But Hood stressed the result did not dampen the enthusiasm of her team, which was without Simone Hickman and Sophie Owen.
“I think we’ve got things we can work on, things that we can change and we had limited options with people that we had out,” she said.
“Do I think we put out our best netball? No, I don’t. I think we’ve got plenty to improve.”
The two teams endured what Hood described as “disgusting” weather, with rain, hail and strong winds.
“It was really tough conditions, but I was happy with what we were able to put up against them and also what they would put up against us,” she said.
“It was a really good game in terms of learning about them. The weather makes for a scrappy game of netball and it was really difficult for the girls on the court.”
The Eagles ticked off a 12thstraight win this season, knocking off yet another contender.
“I’m really pleased with that win,” coach Jason Woolley said.
“In the lead up there was a lot of talk about how we’d play without Amy (Wirth) now, but I thought Mel (Oloamanu), who took her place, had an excellent game.
“We were really pleased with that, and also integrating Vanessa Augustini into the line-up as well in wing defence, that was a good plus for us.
“I thought our attack end of Kath (Nutt), Julia (Woolley), Sarah Wolff and Danni Stewart controlled that end for us.
“That got us off to a good start and we were able to settle into the game.”
Leading by four goals at quarter-time, the Eagles put the foot down in dry conditions, opening up a nine-goal buffer by the main break.
The rain came in the second half and Joeys were unable to close the gap in slippery conditions.
While undefeated, Woolley conceded he had headaches at both ends of the court on the back of injuries.
“The plan from the start was to run Zanna (Woods) and Jules (in attack) with Kath having a baby in March, and just as we thought we were getting on top of that, Amy goes down and we have to shift a bit of focus to the defensive end,” he said.
“That’s a really good start for us against a team that was sitting in second.”