Rays fight to the end

IT was a scoreline that might have gotten away in the end, but Northern Rays assistant coach Ange Cooper believes the fight in her side shows plenty of promise for the season ahead.

The Rays were dogged on the court and did not shy away from the physical Sapphire Series opener against Wildcats.

They stayed in the fight until the e end, but with errors on the attacking e end could not make up the differe ence as the visitors ran away with a 4 46-32 win.

There was no end to the posit tives for the Rays, who won the club’s first quarter of netball in the state league, and got within touching distance of their opponents four p points down in the third quarter. The Rays were led by their def fenders, who forced turnovers and were willing to match it with a tough Wildcats attack.

Goal keeper Chloe Cooper, who a astonishingly landed in Townsville o only two hours before the game after working a full shift as a physio in Cairns that morning, wrapped both hands around the player-ofthe-game honours after showing her tenacity in the goal circle in a long three-quarter stint.

Cooper said the signs were there for a Rays side which only came together as a complete unit right before the clash.

“We got a lot of positives out of that clash, we didn’t get the win but we fought hard,” Cooper said.

“I don’t think the final score reflected how hard and tough the game was. It was our first game together and two of our athletes had only met the rest of the team the day before. We hadn’t played together before ever, and I saw some great passages of play.

“There were a couple of little errors in our game, we turned over a bit of ball at the end, but the things we see are very workable. They are things we can and will address in training this week.

“The best part was all of the girls identified those errors after the game as well. It is a real positive sign for our side.”

The Rays identified their passing as one area that needed improvement ahead of a showdown with the Ipswich Jets in Townsville on Saturday night.

While they were strong out of the defensive end and found passage through the midcourt, the Rays struggled to link up with their attacking end, including lethal recruit Rebekah Rounds.