COUGARS KEEN TO MAKE AMENDS
Last year’s disappointment a spur for team, coach
The disappointment of missing out on the VNL championship last season is driving the Geelong Cougars ahead of tonight’s grand final clash with Casey Demons at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
GEELONG Cougars coach Gerard Murphy believes the time is now for his team to claim a maiden Victorian Netball League championship division title.
The Cougars reached their first championship final last year and fell to City West Falcons, but qualified for the decider two weeks ago with an overtime win that gave them a weeks’ rest before tonight’s clash with Casey Demons.
With the under-19s and division one sides bowing out in their preliminary finals, the championship side will be the only Geelong team playing in tonight’s showpiece event at the State Netball Hockey Centre, and Murphy said he was confident his side was ready to take the next step.
“They have got the belief to win the game and they have belief in each other,” he said.
“I think for them it is just about putting it all together and with finals you have to keep things basic, execute what needs to happen and not overplay it.
“I think against the Falcons (two weeks ago) we lost a bit of traction but they were able to get back and finish the game off, so it is comforting because we didn’t just win by 20 goals, we had to really fight and finish it off.
“So they are ready to go, they are feeling good and everyone is pumped.”
Geelong overcame Casey in the last round of the homeand-away season, running out 13-goal victors after a stunning second quarter of team netball.
The Demons have been in stellar form, though, storming to the top four after winning four of their first 11 and then ousting North East Blaze and the Falcons.
Murphy conceded Casey, which is in its first season in the VNL, was more than capable of posing a threat but said he felt a grand final victory for the Cougars would be the culmination of five years of preparation and strategic planning.
“The club and all the players and support staff, we have been pretty consistent at all levels getting into finals so we are in a really good position,” he said.
“The girls are ready, they learnt a lot from last year and so did I, especially about preparation.
“I started preparing for what a grand final opponent would look like earlier in the year, so we haven’t left it to the final week or two weeks before, we started planning a lot earlier about what game plans we would need to have and I think the players feel prepared.
“It goes to show that once you have been through it, the experience you gain from the process two years in a row will hopefully see them play well and it puts them in a good position to win.”
The VNL grand final will be broadcast via the Netball Victoria and Geelong Cougars Facebook pages from 8.30 tonight.