Bannockburn buzzing ahead of Thomson showdown

BANNOCKBURN will be hoping to turn the tables on Thomson when the two teams clash in Saturday’s GDFNL qualifying final.

Thomson pipped Leigh Potter’s side 48-46 in their only meeting this season, but the Bannockburn coach says her team is confident it can reverse the result and set up what would be a blockbuster battle against Werribee Centrals.

“We’re feeling pretty good, we only lost to them by two goals last time,” Potter said.

“We had a really good game on Saturday against Anakie with awesome defensive pressure.

“So, yes, we’re feeling really good about it.

“In the last few weeks we have been playing really well and all of our combinations have jelled, which is great.” Bannockburn has hit form at the right time of the season, with several of its key players building in the past few weeks.

Potter said she felt the team had grown as a unit throughout the year.

“Definitely Alana Nicol coming through the centre court, she had an absolute ripper of a game on Saturday,” she said. “She completely ruled that centre court.

“Celeste De Munari combined with her when we attacked, they’ve really found their groove in the past few weeks which is awesome.

“And then Erin Dillon and me in the defensive group, this is our third season together now and we’ve really honed in how we play with each other combined with Chloe Reardon coming back in this year, she’s been awesome as well.”

Potter said there was plenty of finals experience in the Bannockburn squad, meaning nerves should not be an issue.

“We’ve been in finals the last two years,” she said.

“The first year we got knocked out in the prelim and last year we got knocked out in our semi, I fractured my spine in the second quarter in that game so we were down a defender.

“We’re looking forward to going all the way this year.”