THIS is dream time at Kenny Park.
While the senior footballers are coming from the clouds to potentially sneak into the finals, the Merbein A Grade netballers are already in fourth spot with two rounds of the SFNL season left.
Breigh Hammet is overseeing an impressive young group of netballers who are playing with confidence and belief in each other at the right time of the season.
Their 31-goal win against Imperials on the weekend saw them move up to fourth in an enthralling four-way battle with Ouyen United, Irymple and South Mildura for the final two positions in the playoffs.
The youngest player in the Magpies’ line-up, 20-year-old Olivia Bowden, had a blinder in the win against Imps, earning her the player-of-the-round honours.
Coach Hammet has moved her to wing defence, away from her preferred role as a shooter.
But to her credit, Bowden has embraced the challenge and was near unbeatable one-on-one at the weekend as she supported Sophie Kroehn and Jo Gray in defence.
“I was focused on my role and made sure my opponent didn’t get the ball, which I thought I did pretty well at,” she said.
“I felt like we worked really well together as team, not just in defence.”
And that sums up why the group has come so far this year. They are working together as a tight-knit unit.
“Early on we lost some games I thought we could have won but we’re performing really well now,” Bowden said.
“I feel like our team has got really close now. Everyone is playing their roles well and backing each other up.
“We’ve been bringing lots of positivity lately.”
The Magpies next face a massive challenge against the unbeaten Wentworth, who won the sides’ first meeting 64-24 in round 8.
Bowden said the goal for her side would be to improve that 40-goal losing margin on Saturday.
“Everyone knows Wentworth is a really good team, but if we can keep the margin as close as possible, then it’ll be a good result,” she said.
“We can also play fast, which can sometimes muck us up. But it can also get us good results, too.
“We really have to focus on what we do well and not get frazzled in how they go about it.”
Asked what it would mean to the young Magpies to make the finals, Bowden said: “It would mean a lot to all the girls.
“It would just show that all our hard work has paid off over the year.”
*** As the SFNL netballer of the round, Bowden receives $100 courtesy of Mildura Golf Resort and Fairways Bistro.
