Tara Murray
The City West Falcons produced some of their best netball in their massive win in the Victorian Netball League Championship on Wednesday night.
Facing third-placed Melbourne University, the Falcons had the opportunity to lock up second spot and a double-chance with one round remaining.
Despite missing four players from their squad, the Falcons came away with a 78-43 win.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said they couldn’t have imagined a win like that when they turned up at the State Netball and Hockey Centre to play.
Mel Oloamanu, Uneeq Palavi, Soli Ropati and Lucia Fauonuku were among five Falcons missing across the club, due to being part of the World Cup 2023 regional qualifiers in Fiji.
“It’s a bit crazy,” she said. “I think there was a fair bit of underlying desperation.
“They all came out with good intent and had to put it all out there .
“We were playing for the double chance and the Falcons seem to play well when something is on the line.”
Lind said the first half was pretty tight on the scoreboard, with the side playing some good netball.
She said the scoreboard didn’t reflect how they were playing.
We would get it out to two or three goals, before a turnover,” she said.
“The defenders started turning over a lot more ball and it came off early in the third quarter.”
Lind said the second half was some of their best netball they had played in a long time.
She said knowing that they were playing with a smaller squad and the group was likely to play big minutes instead of a high number of rotations might have played a bit of a role.
Jessie Barnes-Hill, who played for the Falcons last season, came down from Shepparton, to help provide an option at both ends.
Sophie Hanrahan came up from division 1 and played in wing defence. Lind said she did a good job in the second half, despite playing out of position.
Tharjini Sivalingham and Maddison Mckiernan, who both played a half in division 1 earlier in the night, were also suited up in case they were needed.’
“They both took to the court in the last quarter,” she said. “They were rewarded for helping us out.
“Our division 1 was meant to play after us, but they switched our games around, which worked for us.
“It meant we could take a few more risks without it costing a game in division 1.”
Lind said the result was a really good team performance.
She said Zoe Davies was really strong in the second half in defence, while Jane Cook took some good balls in the shooting circle.
Maddy Gray and Sarah Szczykulski also had solid games.
The win means the Falcons will finish second and face the Geelong Cougars for a spot in the grand final in the first week of finals.
Before then they face Boroondara Express in the final round. The four girls who missed the game against Melbourne University will also miss that game
Lind said knowing the top two spot was locked up the pressure was off in the final round.
The division 1 side, which also beat the Lightning, had already secured their finals position. A win in the final round will be enough for the under-19s to play finals.
