Powerhouse Wentworth back on track

A-GRADE netball powerhouse Wentworth cruised through their first test of the new season with a 70-25 pounding of last year’s wooden spooners Red Cliffs at the George Gordon Oval courts at the weekend.

However, this Saturday will provide a far greater challenge as the Roos head to Ouyen to face the team which shocked them in the 2025 grand final and foiled their hopes of defending their crown – again – and also smashed the red, white and blues’ unbeaten run.

It’s not a ‘revenge game’, that could come at finals time, but coach Amanda Edwards is expecting a tough early season test.

“We’ve just got to stick to ourselves and play our game,” Edwards, who dominated in the circle against the Tigers, said.

“Ouyen are obviously a quality side and we know they are going to bring everything to us. We expect that and we are going to go back to training and work on what we want to do and come out hard against them.

“It should be a really good game and hopefully we can get over the line.”

As for the weekend opener against a keen but under-sized and over-matched foe, Edwards said “it was just really good to get out there again”.

“Nothing has really changed, our purpose is still the same,” she said. “We still want to stick to the same practices. There’s nothing we did wrong last year. It just unfortunately wasn’t our day in that grand final.

“We know what works and you could see that today out there.

“I thought they (Red Cliffs) did really well. We knew they were going to be quite physical, they love to play that one-on-one body type of defence, but it was just down to us being able to run that game out and I thought our preseason really showed as we’ve been working very hard.”

Leading the charge was Edwards, mid-court leader and captain Ashlee Cameron and goal keeper Nat Vercher, who couldn’t stop making deflections and tips.

The Tigers were never in the hunt and coach Romany Bowen rung in numerous positional changes throughout the game to find some spark or combinations that could work as the season progresses.

Down 54-15 at the final break, she told her charges: “It’s not about them, it’s about us now” and challenged the side to double its goal total.

They got 10 of the 15 in their best quarter of the game, but it was nowhere near enough to match the Roos, who already look ominous in ’25.

Defender Morna Naquto and Zara Copley were among the visitors’ best.