Laharum to meet an eager Bombers

It might be too early to tell who the dominant Horsham District netball side is in 2022, but contenders are emerging before Saturday’s round five.

As sides recover from round four of competition last week, Laharum and Kalkee sit on top of the ladder with four wins apiece.

The Mountain Maids and Kees are closely followed by a chasing pack headed by Noradjuha-quantong.

Laharum was comprehensive against Natimuk United at Cameron Reserve, defeating the Rams 51 to 23.

The Mountain Maids led at every change as shooting pair Caitlin Story and Maddie Iredell claimed 51 goals between them.

Kalkee did enough against Edenhope-apsley to win by eight goals, 35-27.

Saints shooter Carlee Feder contributed a majority of her team’s score, making sure 19 shots found the ring.

Feder was helped by Saints keeper Emily Burgess all day, who claimed honours and a goal herself. KanivaLeeor United shooter Abby Croft’s 47 goals were enough to stop a competitive Jeparit-rainbow from clawing back the Cougars, who led from the start.

Storm pair Maddison Marra and Georgia Batson shared the ball evenly all day with 26 and 19 goals each.

Things were much closer between Rupanyup and Swifts, who jostled for the first three quarters before a Swifts-led last quarter secured the victory.

Swifts only led by two goals at half and three-quarter time, but pushed the final margin to nine goals for their 50-41 win.

Noradjuha-quantong was clinical in its win over Pimpinio, posting a 71-45 win.

The Bombers’ Shannon Couch slotted 55 during the day, with help from Georgia Lowe, who added 12. Harrow-balmoral had a bye. Eyes in round five will turn to Laharum versus Noradjuha-quantong at Quantong this week, as the Bombers look to assure the league they remain 2022 contenders with a win over defending premier Laharum.

The result will reveal a lot about the potential for each side to capitalise at the pointy end of the year – as will a Kalkee versus Jeparit-rainbow encounter at Kalkee.

Both sides would expect a good result and early season wins against tough opponents would surely pay dividends after winter.

Rupanyup welcomes Pimpinio to its home courts for what the Tigers would see as a winnable away-game opportunity.

Ditto the Panthers, who would expect to secure a win in front of a home crowd.

Natimuk will host Edenhope-apsley at its showground for an interesting affair.

The Rams should fancy themselves at home for this one.

Harrow-balmoral will meet Kaniva-leeor at Balmoral in what should be another of round five’s significant match-ups.

The Southern Roos and Cougars might regard themselves best of the rest, or even more, and another early season win would cement their finals capacity.

Swifts sit this round out.