Super seven strike for the seconds

What appeared to be the perfect outdoor weather for netball turned into a blustery affair which could have played havoc for the shooters having to deal with the low sun and gusts of wind, and for all the players having to deal with a slippery surface.

The team got underway with their warm up on a spare court, so the shooters got to shoot and the rest of the squad could perform realistic drills. Unfortunately 2 members of the team were unavailable (Elize Ansell and Grace Thomas) and 2 more were injured (Shannon Murray - broken thumb and Paige Money - car accident - nothing serious but probably not wise to risk it). The coach's dream team was fading fast but confidence in the remaining 7 players was high and the team wanted to end the year on a win.

Starting line up was GS Jemma Fruin; GA Kirsty Hall; WA Emma Hall; C Debbie Greenslade; WD Megan Hayward; GD Rebecca O'Dwyer and GK Sadie Burch. The instruction from coach Sonia Grant was, as per usual, start the game strong with short sharp passes to the top of the circle for an easy feed into the shooters. The whole team commited to one another by offering for the ball and making nice moves down court. Head Coach Irene Pearson had come down early to watch the team in action and everyone wanted to impress. Not sure who wanted to impress the Head Coach more, the 2nd team players or the 2nd team coach and Sonia had told the girls that she wanted to see plenty of straight line moves down court as this would please Irene to see what we had trained on in the week being put into action.

The first quarter was solid, with the shooters overcoming the weather conditions to put shots up and in. Kirsty showed how effective she is when given the GA bib, and her movement was like lightning and shots over the defence were nothing but net. The Hall sisters combination between Kirsty and Emma was lovely to watch as they supported one another in positional play. Down at the other end of the court, when the ball did manage to get into her, the very tall Westcombe Park GS was missing shots. Her height advantage meant that she could gather up her own misses but many of them went straight off the back line. Club quickly built an impressive lead, but within a flash this got whittled back as the GS found a bit of rhythm. The quarter ended 11-7 to Club.

The second quarter was very much the same, and the team used several lovely straight line moves (some of which were missed by Head Coach Irene who was distracted by another member of the coaching team Liz Roche who was nattering away! - #wouldyoubelieveit#) [Editors note - we were multi-tasking - of course we saw them .....] However, there were several more of those moves to be had throughout the rest of the game.

Jemma was having a good game at GS, having been asked to do two specific things - follow her shots for rebounds and put up a screen. Impressively she was able to execute both, more so the rebounding, tipping balls up and to herself and going up with two hands for 50/50 balls and winning not only the ball but the penalty for contact too. Westcombe Park, like many teams that Club face had warmed up in the first quarter and then played a better quality of netball in the following quarters, which is why Club need to steal a march on teams in the first quarter, as this is where the match is won. A high scoring second quarter ended 26-16 (15-9) to Club.

At half time, two changes were made to the 7 man team, with Megan and Debbie switching positions. Debbie had already tried to do the splits on what was a uncomfortably slippery court and we couldn't afford any injuries with no subs - Debbie's gymnast days have been over for some time! Although Megan's fitness never slipped during her time out due to injury, she made a couple of bad choices with her centre passes. However, she didn't need to be told twice, she scurried after the ball looking to win it back to make up for her error, and looked even more unhappy about the mistake than coach Sonia. As usual she continued to find the shooter with ease and gave delightful feeds into space for them to attack.

Sadie found that her very tall GS was getting the better of her; out-muscling her on the ball and out-jumping her on the rebounds. After a few shouts from Irene to go for the interceptions outside the circle, Sadie realised that one thing the GS could definitely not do was out-sprint her. Sadie's timing and execution was perfect and a sense of achievement came over her as she came out with the ball and a number of great intercepts. (At quarter time coach Sonia suggested that maybe Sadie needed a recording of Irene's voice to remind of that play!). The interceptions outside of the circle were cruicial because once the ball got to the GS under the post, eventually (after she missed 3 times and recovered her own misses) it would result in a goal. The game kept swinging with Club taking it out by 10 goals and then being pulled back to being within 6 goals, as Westcombe put on a better quarter winning it 10-13 making the score 36-29 at the final break.

In the last quarter the front court were making nice plays around the circle edge. Kirsty really did have an impressive game and just didn't seem able to miss anything, she probably deserved player of the match for her quality shots and consistency. Bex who always puts in a good performance, made every second count, pulling off some impressive interceptions on centre passes and making tireless drives up court to support the attacking play. She never got despondent with the umpiring decisions against her but just soldiered on with grit and determination, showing the will to win.

Some more straight lines moves later (with the team really starting to show off), the game was in the bag but it was still frustrating that Club didn't put the boot in and capitalise to build a bigger lead. The final score was 47-41 (although Paige had the score at 47-39 - we will blame cold fingers for the dispute!). However, a win is a win and now Club are joint second in the league, which is well deserved after some good effort. The team now have a short rest over the Christmas period where they promised to work on their fitness and limit the number of mince pies, ready to come back raring to go for the second half of the season and a continuation of the winning streak! A good new years resolution!

Match report by Sonia Grant