By Tara Murray
The Western Netball League had to grind it out in tricky conditions to come away with the win against Southern in interleague on Saturday.
It was the first time the Western league has had netball as part of its interleague program and it was a success.
Western coach Rebecca Hicks said they were proud to be part of the first interleague netball side.
“There was a lot of pressure for us results wise,” she said. “We had one training session and hadn’t played together.
“You could tell early on and we had to settle in and build from there.
“Hopefully it’s something we can build across association champs with most of the list to roll over.
“It’s exciting for the league and it opens up other opportunities for other girls at association champs.
Western ended up coming away with a 42-39 win on Saturday but it was no means easy.
Rain fell for large parts of the game, meaning they had to work hard for every ball.
Hicks said it was a hard grind out there.
“It was a messy game to be honest,” she said.
“The weather changed and we had to change our whole game plan. There were a lot of turnovers and I think there was a seven minute period where it was back and forth and neither team scored.
“They had a seven goal lead in the third quarter. We were able to peg them back and ended up getting the win.”
Hicks said while a lot of the girls play weekend netball outdoors, most of the season had been dry and for many it was their first wet weather game for the year.
She said they had some lulls in the game and had to find different ways to get going.
“We had to grind it out,” she said. “We were playing against a fairly tall team and we were quite a shorter team.
“We had to convert our centre passes and convert turnovers as our defenders won a lot of the ball.”
A match winning move for the Western side was the decision to move Akira McCormack from goals into centre.
While she doesn’t play centre at Victorian Netball League level, she has played a bit for Glen Orden.
“We wanted her to use her vision and run those legs which she does well,” Hicks said. “She was settled and was really good defensively in attack.
McCormack was named best on court.
Hicks said Southern defender Gabrielle O’Dwyer was stiff not to take out the award, having helped shut her out of the game for large periods of it and forced Western’s goal attacks to take on more of a load.
The Western team was made up of five Glen Orden players, three from Caroline Springs, two from Werribee Districts and one each from Sunshine and Spotswood.
