Tara Murray
The City West Falcons were made to work hard for victory on Sunday in the Victorian Netball League championship.
Instead of the normal Wednesday night fixture, the Falcons hit the road and travelled down to face the Peninsula Waves on Sunday afternoon.
The Waves pushed the Falcons early, but the Falcons were able to break away late to seal a 76-60 win.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said while they normally train on a Sunday, it was a bit different having to play on the other side of the city.
“It took a little while and it wasn’t our best performance,” she said.
“There was a little bit of disruption to the normal venue. Some of the players who live in Werribee had to travel a couple of hours.
“The travel, different time slots, it was a bit tricky but we got the wins.”
Lind said Peninsula was really good at attacking the first ball, which they slowly got on top of.
She said they were trying some things in their defence end to give them more tricks up their sleeves.
“They were some things that the defenders weren’t comfortable with,” she said. “It took a while to completely invest in it, once we did we were able to get away.”
Jane Cook shot 57 goals for the Falcons, while Tharjini Sivalingam came up from division 1 and shot 12 goals in a short period of time.
Lind said ideally Sivalingam was better suited to the championship side and had a good game in the short period of time she was on court.
She said they wanted to qualify her for the top side just in case she’s not picked for the world cup.
Lind said they didn’t have any standouts on Sunday as they looked to try and switch players around.
She said Soli Ropati played several different positions, while Maggie Lind took a while to settle in her return from a calf injury.
Maddy Gray also got another chance at wing attack at the end.
The Falcons remain two games clear on top of the ladder.
With players to miss games late in the season, Lind said they need to ensure they get that double chance.
In a positive for the Falcons, Kim Borger should be available for the rest of the season after the Melbourne Vixens were knocked out of the Super Netball competition
The Falcons other two sides had wins on Sunday, with Lind saying it was the worst the under-19s had played in a long time.
The Falcons face the North East Blaze on Wednesday night.
