THE need for speed has paid early dividends for the Robinvale Euston netball team in the SFNL A Grade competition.
Coming off a disappointing 2022 season, where they only won one game, the new-look Eagles are short on stature but big on moving the ball in slick fashion.
“It’s all about speed of play for us because we don’t have the height to match other teams,” Eagles workhorse Taneh Romeo said.
“(New coach) Hayley (Siddons) has been focused on us playing more of a short game and getting back to basics.
“You know, the getting in front of opponents, always offering (the ball) and drawing the player out and coming back in.
“The other big thing she wants is for us to keep working hard for each other.”
There was no better example of this than Romeo on Saturday when she ran her heart out in the mid-court, playing four quarters at centre.
Her impressive display in the Eagles’ breakthrough six-goal win against Red Cliffs earned the 31-year-old the player-of-the-round honour.
Romeo, a mother of three young children, said she had been working hard on her fitness levels.
“I’ve been doing a lot of stuff outside of training, such as running, Pilates and with three little kids, I sometimes find it easier to quickly jump on the treadmill and get it done,” she said.
The Eagles are a young group this year, but they did have a passionate 43-year-old standing tall in defence for them on Saturday.
Member for Mildura Jade Benham made her first appearance for the season in the round 3 encounter at John James Ovals.
“Jade’s great. She gives us good height in defence. She’s also the biggest talker in the team,” Romeo said with a laugh.
The versatile Romeo is a club stalwart. She started with the Eagles in the Net Set Go program when she was starting school.
“It’s a great club to be involved with. All the girls love playing together,” she said.
Reflecting on the team’s performance on Saturday, she said: “I’m super proud of the way the girls put in a 100 per cent effort and didn’t stop.
“We thought we were up by a goal at three-quarter time, but we were actually down by two. It actually made our last quarter even better by the way we just getting going hard at it.
“We now have the belief that we can win these close games.”
As the SFNL netballer of the round, Romeo receives $100 courtesy of Mildura Golf Resort and Sunraysia Daily.
