Netball
City West Falcons snared their fourth straight win in the Victorian Netball League championship division.
The undefeated Falcons are an offensive force, averaging a league-high 57 goals per game with an average winning margin of 23.
The juggernaut rolled on with a 59-42 win over long-time rivals Monash University Storm at the State Netball Hockey Centre on Wednesday night.
“The girls put in a pretty hard and tough pre-season so it’s actually good to reap the rewards early on in the competition,” Falcons assistant coach Nicole Richardson said.
“We’re travelling along quite nicely at the moment and a lot of players have had quite a bit of court time and [are] sharing the load.
“It’s a good place to be after round four.”
While the Falcons attack is running like clockwork, their defence can do with a bit of tightening.
Richardson was not pleased with the performance of the back end against the Storm.
However, the Falcons are still ranked in the league’s top three after four games.
“Defensively, I don’t think we were at our best, and you have to give credit to Monash Uni,” Richardson said.
“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board with our defenders and …continue to work on our defence.
It is easy to plaster over the defensive cracks when your three-pronged attack is in such hot form.
The Knott sisters – Kath and Julia – and youngster Alice Teague-Neeld are going to give the Falcons’ coaches a few headaches at the selection table.
Three into two spots will not go and all three have made a case for the starters bibs.
“It’s a great dilemma to have from a coaching perspective,” Richardson said.
“We have three goalers playing well and shooting high percentage and [that] keeps the opposition guessing as to what starting line-up we’re going to throw up.
“It does make it a headache for the coaches to work out which two are going to get the start, but it’s a headache you’d prefer to have.”
The umpires votes went to goal defence Casey Price, but in Richardson’s eyes it was Maggie Lind who stood out.
Lind has made a seamless transition into a mid-court role and thrived in the absence of young gun Liz Watson, who was on Melbourne Vixens duty.
“She’s developing quite nicely into a centre court player now,” Richardson said. “She had an exceptional game and she fed our goalers with some great ball.”
The Falcons will take on Geelong Cougars, coached by former Falcons assistant Gerard Murphy, tonight at the SNHC.
LANCE JENKINSON
