Macedon 40 Won 35 Woodend-Hesket
We will take the win!
Woodend have been playing really well against the top 4 teams so we knew that we had our work cut out for us this week. We briefly discussed how adaptable each player would have to be to our changing line up and focus on individual performance was essential.
We started this game with a goaler positional switch, giving Nellie and Georgia a chance to play a more familiar position on court. Supply was high and shooting was outstanding compared to other weeks. They shot 12 from 15 attempts in 12 minutes of netball. Our turnover count remains high with 4 bad passes and 2 attacking coach killers and this is killing our momentum and score board pressure. Demi Young feed all 6 balls into the goalers but the assists came from all 5 players because our goaling position was not ideal. We are still working on finding the right option in goals and our goalers presenting but we are getting better.
Whole court defensive pressure is outstanding. 5 intercepts from 5 different players, 2 gains from Bella, 1 from Dels and 1 from Demi Y. Woodend were kept to converting just 6 goals from 11 attempts, their misses were keeping us in the game and holding a lead. We were up 12 to 6.
With a strong start, the starting 7 deserved to stay on the court. Our turnovers were still high with 7 and we were attacking the ball strong but releasing too slowly. Feeds were shared between our mid courters but the goalers struggled to covert this quarter. We shot 7 from 13 attempts, 50% accuracy was not going to win us the game. A change into half time needed to be made here.
Dels in WD was a strong shield with 3 intercepts, 1 gain and a rebound. Our circle defenders were kept quiet this quarter with only 1 rebound between them. Our mistakes were giving Woodend a look in and they shot 12 from 16 attempts. Their improved accuracy was going to cost us, unless we did something about this. We were up by the slimmest of margins 19- 18.
A change in our goal ring needed to be made and Ash came on into GA and because we were short circle defenders our defence end stayed on the court, with a big job ahead of them. We continue to throw away easy ball with 7 turnovers. Our goalers were responsible for 5 of those. We need to address this because they are not necessary passes and when we are shooting well and our mid courters are delivering well, these opportunities are wasted. Georgia pick up and shot an impressive 9 from 11 attempts and Ash 3 from 4 goals.
Defenders did a much better job this quarter with 8 recoveries between them. Bella and Aleigha rebounded all 3 of Woodend’s missed goals. Dels continued her great game with 1 intercept, 1 gain and a tip. Woodend shot 6 from 9 attempts. Because they were deprived of the opportunity to score we won that quarter by 6. A healthy lead that we were going to fight to keep. 31 -24.
The only change made this quarter was swapping Dels out for Georgia. Our turnover count was reduced finally to 5 and this was critical because our goaling accuracy took a little hit. Our feeding slipped back into the same style they played in the first quarter with Demi Y doing the majority of the feeds. Georgia shot 8 from 12 and Ash 1 from 2 attempts, with no rebounds. We were lucky that we built a strong lead in the 3rd because this was not going to be enough to win the game.
Our defenders Bella, Aleigha and Georgia were heavily penalised in the last quarter with 4 contacts each. They weren’t staying in play and were leaving each other with a 2 on 1 scenario. Something we will discuss at training. Demi gave such good chase with 4 intercepts while the only other player with 2 intercepts was Aleigha. It was a very quiet defence end. Woodend shot 11 from 14 with 2 rebound gains. We need to tighten up and learn how to adjust to the umpires so that we are recovering more ball and giving our attack end as much opportunity to score as possible.
40 -35 win. We will take the 4 points!
