April 18, 2016 12:54 pm
by Tara Murray
Riddell’s Cayley Armstrong and Diggers Rest’s Vivien Leong fight for the ball. Picture Shawn Smits
Riddell started the new season the way they finished the last – with a big win.
The reigning Riddell District Netball League premiers kicked off their 2016 campaign with a strong win over a new-look Diggers Rest, winning 52-27.
The Bombers controlled the game from the opening whistle, and the result never looked in doubt.
Bombers’ coach Jarrod Walker said while he was happy with getting a win first up, there was things that the side would have to work on.
“I’m happy to get the win and also identified a lot of things we can work improve on across the next couple of weeks.
“In training, we sewed it all together well.
I think, today, first-round nerves hit a couple of players, but we’re bringing through some youth, which is exciting for the area.
“We need to work on our transition. Getting the ball out of defence was good, but it’s the linking to the attacking end we need to work on.
I feel our attack end is our biggest asset, and we didn’t use it well at all today.
“ Like their opposition, the Bombers were a different looking line-up to the one that played last season.
Walker didn’t hesitate to switch players around as they looked to find the right mix. He also made the most of the new time-out rule.
“We’re going to look to see how we can use the new time-out rules for netball, to see whether it’ll impact us to run them on and off the bench, or have the players play the whole 15 minutes.
We thought today would be a good day to try it, to see how it will go.”
Two of the Bombers’ best players were new defender Sarah King and Cayley Armstrong, who returns to the team after missing last year through injury.
“Sarah is a young under-19 player from the city. She just needs a bit of extra work so we brought her out here to get a bit more experience. “
Cayley has a fantastic game. She’s back in the form where she’s comfortable and really confident.”
Burras’ coach Amy Carroll said it was a disappointing way to start the season. “It was really tough, actually,” she said.
“It was pretty disappointing the way it panned out. The actual game itself wasn’t too bad, we just didn’t put the score on the board.
“Defensively, I think we did really well. I don’t think our attacking end was up to it.”
Carroll said she expected the team to build as the season went on, with several new players on the team.
“The whole attack end really hasn’t played together before our first game, which really tested us, and I think that was visible.
“The defensive end [of Stephanie Barnes, Jena Baboth and Tayla Behan] has played together [at Romsey] which you could see.”
The Bombers weren’t the only side with a big win; Rupertswood, Romsey and Macedon also had dominant matches.
- See more at: http://www.starweekly.com.au/sports/rdnldiggersridd/pub/melton_moorabool/
