LIAM PHILLIPS
IN a battle between the last
two winless sides in Barossa,
Light & Gawler Netball Association’s
Senior 1 division, Tanunda
showed it still has plenty
of fight with a 53-37 home win
against Freeling.
The Magpies have been closing
in on a result, with their closest
two losses coming in their last
two games before getting over the
line on Saturday.
Tanunda’s Janette Edwards
said it was fun to see her players
in good spirits after a challenging
start to the season.
“The morale after the game was
really good, it was a really good
reward for effort for the work we
put in,” she said.
“Over the past four or five
weeks, we have been winning or
drawing quarters against good
teams, so for us the focus coming
in this game was trying to win
each quarter.
“We can play some good netball,
and there wasn’t one quarter on
Saturday that we lost so getting that
consistency is going to be key.”
Edwards said it had been a slow
build-up to this win, but one that
her side had clearly been building
towards.
“For us, it’s about our confidence
and continuing to develop,”
she said.
“In training, we’ve been working
on the real basics and figuring
out what style of play works for
us, and how we can get into our
flow against good defences.
“To lose to Willaston by only
five goals was encouraging, because
we knew it was just our
third quarter that lost it for us, and
we won a quarter or two against
Nuriootpa, so there has been
glimpses, we just hadn’t seen it
for four quarters.
“Another thing we really did
well on Saturday is treasure
the turnovers. It’s hard to force
turnovers, and I think we did a
great job of valuing our possession
and punishing Freeling’s
mistakes.”
Edwards said her best-on-court
was Matilda Lienert, playing a
position that used to be reserved
for the worst player on the team.
“Matilda in wing defence was
terrific – it’s a really hard position
to play, and she’s been playing
wing attack recently, so for her
to play the way she did was exciting,”
she said.
“Traditionally, wing defence is
where you would put your weakest
players years ago, but now
it’s understood that a strong wing
defence can win games for you,
and she’s been a big part of our
turnaround.
“Jemma Linke also played a
really strong game, and Lauren
Martin got her hands on plenty
of balls in defence – everyone did
their job really.”