UNDER 19s
The 19's lost their first game of the season against an improved Wallan outfit 20-24.
An early 9am start and a wet slippery Wallan court seemed to throw our girls off their game. They were one-goal down at the first break. The girls were struggling to keep their feet and our normally quick and agile game style went out the window.
Some positional changes were made to our defensive end going into the second, this seemed to unsettle our back court and unfortunately Wallan forced some turnovers and piled on eight goals in quick succession.
Easy entry into their goal end made it hard for our backline to hold back Wallan's attacking style. Wallan's tight defence was making it hard for us to drive into our attacking end in the wet conditions, our entry into our front half was congested and we struggled to convert much needed goals.
Some quick changes to our line up a couple of minutes before half time saw Shae Denahy come back into defence and Mackenzie 'Macca' Brown was moved into the midcourt. We crossed fingers that Macca's niggling shoulder injury would hold out. This helped to contain our oppositions efforts, but we went into the main break down by six goals.
We kept making changes to our combinations on court, trying to find the right one for our opposition and the conditions. Gracie Reid was shifted into goals to open up the ring with her speed and Amy Duff was brought back into the mid-court with Macca. The changes helped as we pegged them back to win the last half of the game by two, but it wasn't enough in the end.
Abbey was our stand out in defence, working hard to adjust and slow down their shooters, while Macca's work through the midcourt and Gracie's efforts to transition so well into the shooting ring helped us claw our way back into the game.
Well done to all of our 19's girls for your team first attitude as the changes were made throughout the game and your willingness to take the game on when we were down.
I know a loss can be hard to stomach sometimes, especially when we know we are better than the game we put out there on the day, but I'm a firm believer in the saying that everything happens for a reason. This may have been the loss we needed to have!
So let's learn from this, work hard at training and strive to beat them next time. I have no doubt in my mind that we can, but it won't just happen without every one of us digging in and working hard as a team.
Go Hawks!
C GRADE
Woodend/Hesket came away with a one-goal win against Wallan, hanging on in the last quarter to win 27-26.
In a game with a few ups and downs, the team worked really hard and played as team, determined to notch another win on the board.
Our aim this week was to play consistently for four quarters and the team did this for three quarters which was an improvement on the last few weeks.
The Hawks started well, bringing the ball down efficiently and getting lots of tips in the defensive end. The second quarter was not great and our three-goal lead turned into a five-goal deficit at half time.
With some positional changes in the third quarter, including young Amy Duff from the 19’s who gave our mid-court a chop out for the quarter, the team was able to score nine goals to three and take a one-goal lead into the last quarter. With a time out for injury half way through the last quarter and some more changes, the team kept their cool to come out winners.
Monique Dean continued her outstanding form in defence, marking her opponent tightly, taking intercepts and rebounds and ensuring the Wallan goalers had to work really hard to get their goals.
Courtney Arthurson continued her good form, playing entirely in WA. She fed the ball well to the goalers, made space in the attacking end and applied pressure to her opponent. Louise Marendaz played beautifully in GS in the first half, holding well and making it easy for the attacker to feed her the ball. Lou swapped in to defence in the third quarter and shut down the Wallan goalers.
With a couple of players out of the team due to sickness and unavailability, everyone played their role and the team’s flexibility was again on show with a number of players playing different roles. The season now sits at three wins and three losses and the next few weeks provide us with an excellent opportunity of consolidating our position in the top six. Well done to all players, train hard and keep positive, the rewards will continue to come. Go Hawks!
Last Modified on 03/06/2019 17:47