Roos, Cougars in with chance
In Horsham District Football Netball League’s match of the round, Edenhope-apsley and Laharum players fought through another thrilling game of netball.
With homegrown Edenhope player Sacha Mcdonald returning for the match, the Saints pipped the Demons by five goals to pull themselves in sight of a top-three finish.
The result, as well as a Noradjuha-quantong upset against Kalkee, has laid the groundwork for a frenetic final round of 2022 season netball.
Laharum, after leading the Saints by two goals at quarter time, let its lead slip at half time and was unable to regain the upper hand ahead of the final break.
A brilliant match-up between Mcdonald in goal attack and Demons’ goal defence Ema Iredell was enticing throughout the game – the two going at it all day in an awesome display of high-level netball.
The loss does not deal the Demons out of a top-two finish, however, given the Bombers’ grinding win against the Kees evens up the points game at the top of the table.
Apart from the Kees, who will be given four points for a scheduled match against Taylors Lake, percentage will be the name of the game for the Bombers and Saints, which all start as favourites in respective match-ups this weekend.
The Bombers will play Pimpinio at Quantong and the Saints take on Natimuk United at Edenhope – neither the Tigers nor the Rams are necessarily push overs and should put up a staunch defence of their reputations.
But it would take a hefty effort to dislodge the Demons from second place, who have a 38-pecentage point lead over the Saints, so you would expect them to have the double chance secured at this point.
Jeparit-rainbow has locked in its finals spot, with Harrow-balmoral and Kaniva-leeor United the only other options to make the cut.
Interestingly enough, the Southern Roos and Cougars play each other on Saturday at Kaniva in what should be a cracking game – the winner to play finals and the loser to miss out.
With one more round to play, whether it is for finals or for pride, the weekend’s games are set to be competitive ones. This week: Edenhope-apsley v Natimuk at Edenhope, Swifts v Rupanyup, Kalkee v Taylors Lake, Noradjuha-quantong v Pimpinio, Kaniva-leeor United v Harrow-balmoral, Jeparit-rainbow v Laharum at Rainbow. Last week: Noradjuha-quantong 32 d Kalkee 28, Edenhope-apsley 43 d Laharum 38, Jeparit-rainbow 55 d Pimpinio 39, Harrow-balmoral 43 d Swifts 34, Kaniva-leeor United 68 d Rupanyup 36. Ladder: Kalkee 52 points, 151.79 percent; Laharum 48, 177.95; Edenhope-apsley 48, 140.45; Noradjuha-quantong 48, 135.47; Jeparit-rainbow 40, 128.09; Harrow-balmoral 36, 133. 96; Kanivaleeor United 36, 113.78; Natimuk United 20, 74.12; Pimpinio 20, 67.76; Swifts 8, 71.92; Rupanyup 4, 37.22; Taylors Lake 0,0.