AS the SFNL season reaches its halfway point, netball teams will be able to focus on the known strengthens and weaknesses of their opponents, says Ouyen United co-coach Kyra Nathan.
After Saturday’s match against Mildura at Brian Weightman Oval, Ouyen United, along with all other teams, will have played every SFNL team.
Nathan said knowing the competition would help teams adjust their strategies and plays to combat the strengthens and weakness of their opponents.
“I always find the first (half of the season) is a bit of an experiment round, you don’t really know what you are going to get,” she said.
“Coming into the second round, you find you remember where the strengths of the other teams are and where their weaknesses are and that’s where I find it is a good coaching challenge to pick a part where those strengths and weaknesses are making sure we combat them with our plays and strategies and seeing if we can go a little bit better second time round.”
After next week’s bye, Ouyen United are set to play the unbeaten Wentworth, who defeated the Kangas 46 to 31 in round 2.
Wentworth has been the only team to defeat the third-placed Ouyen United and second-placed Mildura, with the ladder difference due to Ouyen United’s draw with Irymple in round 4.
Nathan said Saturday’s match against Mildura would help benchmark where the team were at.
“If we have a good game against Mildura it will be a good yardstick on knowing how far away we are from Wentworth,” Nathan said.
“I still believe Wentworth are the team to beat in the competition.
“They seem to have had the most consistent season but if we have a good win against Mildura, it would give a lot of confidence to the girls to be able to play against Wentworth and it’ll be good to know where we sit after that game and how much improvement we have left.”
Mildura lost to Wentworth in round 1, 61 to 33, and currently have a percentage of 129.39.
Nathan said she had heard Mildura was a highly competitive team.
“We don’t know a lot about Mildura but what we do know is they are a tall, young team with a lot of talent,” she said.
“From what other clubs have told me that have played them, they are really competitive and they will be pretty fierce competition.”
Nathan said the Roos were trying to cement its starting seven.
“We recently lost one of our starting seven players due to pregnancy which is fantastic for her but we have been trying to consolidate a starting seven and just get combinations going,” she said.
“We are still in the throes of that but with a good week last week hopefully the girls will be raring to go this week and I’m sure the combinations will be stronger and stronger every week.”
In Saturday’s other games, seventh-placed Red Cliffs will take on fourth placed Irymple at Quandong Park, with both teams aiming to increase their wins from three to four.
Bottom-of-the-ladder Robinvale Euston take on top-of-the-ladder Wentworth at John James Oval and fifth-placed South Mildura take on eighth-placed Merbein at the Mildura Sporting Precinct.
Imperials have the bye.
