Seymour sees off Bulldogs to secure 15th win
Seymour continued its Goulburn Valley League A-grade netball dominance at the weekend, accounting for a young Tatura side 59-40 at Kings Park.
Returning to the court after a week off, the ladder-leading Lions were a touch flat in the opening stages, but rebounded strongly after half-time, piling on 32 goals in the final two quarters to secure the victory.
Now in the box seat to claim the minor premiership as the competition enters its finals round, Seymour coach Ellie O’Sullivan said it was pleasing to come away with another resounding win.
“We certainly started very slow and with a bit of a new-look line-up, it was hard to connect on court early,” O’Sullivan said.
“It took a bit of time, but we managed to build our way into the game slowly and get that flowing ball movement going.
“The maturity of the girls to work out what was going wrong and fix it on the fly was impressive, and in the end our depth really shone through and we got back to playing our best netball in the second half.”
Coming up against a Tatura side that had won just one match for the season, many expected the Lions to dominate the contest from the first whistle.
But the tenacity and speed of the Bulldogs caused the ladder-leader problems from the opening whistle, as O’Sullivan praised the way her opposition went about things in the early stages.
“Tatura absolutely came out firing and really made things hard for us,” she said.
“That first quarter in particular was pretty tough. There were a few wayward balls from our end and we were a little bit untidy and rusty coming off the bye.
“I thought Tat were just so slick with the ball and it took us a while to really negate their ball movement.”
Leading by one goal at
quarter-time and five at the main change, the pressure was on Seymour in the second half as the Bulldogs smelled the potential of an upset.
But as all good sides do, the Lions produced a slick response, outscoring Tatura 15-8 in the third term, before piling on another 17 in the
last to secure a comfortable 19-goal triumph.
Trialling a few new combinations in the lead-up to the finals, youngster Olivia Barry was given an opportunity in A-grade and capitalised with a best-on-court performance.
“Olivia went really well. Like everyone, she probably started off a bit slow, but then she really got hungry for the ball in that second quarter,” O’Sullivan said.
“Pushing her back to wing defence, that match-up with Elsie Boyer was really interesting and I think she got better as the game went on, which was good to see.
“Jess Lallo moving to wing attack also really worked for us in that second half and linked very well with Ella Tenant in the goal circle.”
Seymour’s focus now shifts to a pivotal clash with fellow contender Shepparton United to round out the home-and-away season.
O’Sullivan said the match at Deakin Reserve would serve as the perfect preparation for the start of finals.
“We are really looking forward to next weekend. We know United are going to be a tough task, but we built a bit of confidence in the line-up we had on the weekend,” she said.
“Hopefully we can carry that momentum into next week’s game and come into the finals in top shape.”