Tara Murray
The City West Falcons are starting to hit their straps in the Victorian Netball League championship.
After a slow start, the Falcons have put together two straight strong performances including a good win against the Hawks on Wednesday night.
The Hawks stuck with the Falcons for the first quarter before the Falcons stepped it up and came away with a 67-51 win.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said they were pleased with the win.
“They normally stick with us for the first half,” she said. “They were good in the first quarter, before we got a bit of space.
“We were able to rotate through the positions. Being really low on numbers, we need everyone to play at least two positions.”
Zoe Davies got some more time at wing defence which adds to her flexibility, while Sophie Hanrahan has had the chance to play three different positions in the first three matches.
Lind said they were keen to give Hanrahan a run in the centre position at some point.
The Falcons rotated their goalers, with Uneqq Palavi and Maddy Gray starting the game.
Lind said Jane Cook was really good when she came on in the second quarter shooting 20 goals for the quarter and 36 for the game.
Tharjini Sivalingam was also given a quarter as she prepares for the world championships later this year.
Lind said it was a really good team performance.
“Jane had a really good second quarter when she came on,” Lind said. “Uneeq is shaping up a bit more at goal attack. She’s worked a lot more on her fitness.
“It was a good team effort.”
The under-19s remain undefeated. Lind said they were rotating 11-12 players through each week to give them all an opportunity.
The division 1 side came back from 14 goals down to get a draw. Lind said it was their young players who ran out the match and it was a really gutsy performance.
The Falcons next week the North East Blaze.
“You don’t know where anyone sits at the moment,” Lind said. “ We won’t know until round six to get a good picture.
“We want to go into the Easter break 3-1.”
