“WE knew we were going to lose,” was Merbein coach Breigh Hammet’s frank appraisal after her side was swamped to the tune of 50 goals by rampant A Grade ladder leaders Wentworth in a game played in miserable, drizzly conditions at the Kenny Park courts.
That pre-game attitude may seem defeatist to some, but it was a simple statement of fact for a Magpie side loitering just outside the top five but slowly drifting further away from finals calculations.
“We’ve got a lot of young girls and it is what it is,” Hammet said after the 74-24 trouncing. “I wish I could say something different. So, the main thing is making sure the girls had a good time and in that last quarter they were having a ball. It was great in the first 10 minutes of that quarter. They got pumped up as they went goal for goal with them and they went ‘oh my gosh, we can do it when we have a crack’.
“Obviously, Wentworth then went back to their starting seven and things changed and that’s fine. Good on them. They are winning, doing well and I hope they get their threepeat.
“But ours (aim) is about making sure young girls who are coming through and playing netball still want to play and don’t have games they don’t want to show up for.
“The fact they were all cheering, all happy to be out there, all made some really good progression; that’s what we are looking for. You’re in the rain and you’re having a laugh … I take those positives from that.”
For the undefeated Roos, it was business as usual. They bounded away to a 17-6 quarter-time lead and just continued to build on that – restricting the Pies to no more than seven goals in any quarter while amassing quarters of 17, 19, 19 and 19 themselves.
They dominated all facets of play and it’s hard to see how they cannot claim a third title in a row come September.
“No one is ever perfect and I think we’ve definitely got room for improvement,” Wentworth coach and prolific scorer Amanda Edwards said ominously.
“We need to keep improving on our ball movement and speed and then also knowing when to slow it down and play a controlled game is really important,” Edwards said.
“We know we have got a big target on our backs so it’s a matter of taking each quarter as it comes, starting the game well and then control the ball when it’s in our hands and play our game,” she said.As per usual, pretty much any one of the Roos’ starting seven could have claimed best on court honours, but the gongs on Saturday went to goal keeper Natalie Vercher and mid-courter Ashlee Cameron while Sophie Kroehn and Emily Gray were named Merbein’s best.
