Kyabram Free Press

Teams get physical

- By Jess Gledhill

TONGALA’S A grade netball side got a wake-up call on Saturday going down to Moama 35-54 in the Murray Netball League.

The Blues hosted the round three clash against the Mowers who came out firing in what became a physical match for both sides.

Coach Alicia White said fourquarte­r consistenc­y again let Tongala down on Saturday as the team let up during points in the match giving Moama a run-on in scores.

‘‘Moama got the jump on us early,’’ White said with the Blues down by nine goals at quarter time.

‘‘Our starts have been a little lack-luster this season and that’s something we’re trying to improve on.

‘‘We always knew it was going to be a physical match and we prepared well for it, but Moama was just hungrier for the ball.’’

Tongala diminished the margin to eight at half-time and were only down by 11 with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

But Moama again proved its ability to run-out games and was able to blow the scores out to 19 goals by the final whistle.

White said the versatilit­y and depth of Moama’s bench was difficult to match.

‘‘They weren’t just good in one or two positions; they were strong all over no matter what combinatio­n they brought on,’’ she said.

‘‘It was good for us to realise there’s still a lot of work for us to do.

‘‘Moama are a beautiful side and have really sent the bench mark for this season.

‘‘They were desperate for every pass and went hard attacking the ball. They had pressure over every ball and that’s something we haven’t been used to this season.’’

Caddison Mulholland started the game, however came off after five minutes still struggling with her injury from the week before.

Sixteen-year-old Grace Hammond came up from B grade to take her place and excelled in her first A grade game as the most consistent of the team.

‘‘We still have Abby Pettifer returning to the side in goals and that’ll be good to start trying out some different combinatio­ns,’’ White said.

‘‘We were pretty disappoint­ed with how we finished the game off, but there were still plenty of good things to come from the game.’’

White wasn’t sure what would come of this weekend’s game against Cobram but hoped to improve on their leads to the ball ahead of the game.

Moama’s Georgie Crowe played her 150th club game at the weekend.

‘‘It’s great for a team like Moama who hasn’t had the greatest success over the years step up like they have,’’ White said.

‘‘They’ve definitely brought a lot more competitiv­eness to the league and will be one of the teams to beat this season as will Deniliquin.’’

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia