It wasn’t pretty but the City West Falcons did enough to come away with the points against Peninsula Waves in the Victorian Netball League championship division on Wednesday night.
Coming off a disappointing loss the week before, the Falcons were able to build the lead throughout, winning 58-49.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said it wasn’t the prettiest game, but they were happy to get the points. It was the side’s second win of the season.
“With the group at the moment, that’s the main thing,” she said.
“We’re still working on the communication with the group at the moment and getting that going.
“We were able to build the lead in increments, but we did plateau a bit in the second half.”
Lind said there was a little bit of unknown for both sides with Netball Victoria either holding our players or putting them on restrictions ahead of the state championships.
It meant that defender Mel Oloamanu missed a third straight game, while other players through their program could only play a half.
“They [the Waves] had a couple of players who could only play a half,” Lind said.
“We had to work out who they would have on the court, it was pretty difficult and challenging across all the games.”
Lind said there were definitely some signs of improvement within the team. She said it was always going to take some time for them to develop.
“The lack of communication on court is really important to work on,” she said.
“The team is pretty young and they have to work out how to fix things during the quarters instead of waiting until the breaks.
“They are young kids who need to work together. There were some signs of improvement.”
Jane Cook played her first full game back after COVID-19, allowing Maddi Gray and Uneeq Palavi to settle in goal attack out the front.
Lind said they both showed some improvement.
One move Lind did make was bring up Toni Lind from division 1. She said it was something they might look at doing, depending on whether they had access to some of the Super Netball players.
“We brought her up to bring some experience and communication in the mid-court,” she said of her daughter.
“She’s more vocal and was able to provide some more leadership in the mid court.”
The win brings the Falcons back to 2-3 and back in the mix. Lind said the competition was proving to be a really close one.
“The competition is pretty even besides Geelong, who have been able to keep their staple players,” she said.
“You don’t know who you are going to play against. [Melbourne Vixens] Rahni Samson played for Southern Saints, while Nyah Allen was out due to playing in the SSN competition.”
In division 1, had a 56-45 win against the Waves.
There is a competition wide bye due to the national championships.
The Falcons will be back in action on April 27 against the Southern Saints.
