By Lance Jenkinson
City West Falcons could not be any better prepared for a tilt at finals redemption.
The Falcons will try to avoid the same mistakes that saw them go through the Victorian Netball League undefeated last season, only to lose the one that mattered in the grand final.
They’re in a similar position this year, coming into the finals as minor premiers, though this time with one loss in the regular season.
But they have the advantage of drawing on the harrowing experience of 12 months ago – and using this to drive their campaign.
“We’re trying to finish things off really well this year,” Falcons coach Marg Lind told
Star Weekly. “We’re doing a few different things compared to last year.”
The Falcons have already acclimatised to the business end of the campaign, with two finals-type encounters in the past two weeks.
They were pushed to the maximum by Geelong Cougars and North East Blaze. It is just what Lind felt her team needed in the run-up to the finals.
“I expected the last two games to be tough and it’s probably a really good preparation,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of [selection] options and everyone seemed to step up and hold their own.”
The Falcons brought in external sources to help prepare for the finals. Jake Bridges, from Human Performance Australia, worked with the players on the mental aspects of the game.
Then a former VNL coach talked tactics, how other clubs might try to break the Falcons down.
“Other teams are going to go at us hard and a lot of clubs would like to see us go down,” Lind said. “We need to be incredibly resilient and focus on ourselves and our tasks.”
The Falcons are clear hot favourites to take out the title. The side has a remarkable attacking record this season, led by goaler Kath Knott and the attack-minded Steph Tyrell, Maggie Lind and Molly Jovic.
“We’re the only team out of all divisions to score 1000 goals for the season,” Lind said. “They’re very different players but they seem to gel nicely.”
In big finals, the defensive side of the game seems to be magnified. In the past two matches, the Falcons have conceded 50 goals in each, not the kind of number they would want to give up too often in the finals.
“That’s something we’ve discussed,” Lind said.
“One of the big focuses we’ll have in the finals is defence.
“We’ve scored lots, but we’ve conceded more than we want to as well, so we want to try and turn the ball over and capitalise more than we have been,” she said.
The Falcons will face Boroondara Express at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Saturday for the right to move directly into the grand final.
