Swallows hold of Tiger attacks

IRYMPLE all but secured their place in the top five and are now eyeing the A Grade league’s double chance after a solid eight-point victory over Red Cliffs at Quandong Park courts.

The Swallows were up 8-0 before you could blink and held that margin until the final horn in a low-scoring 40-32 triumph.

“It was excellent, everything I could have wished for,” said first-year Irymple coach Shelby Trigg of the gritty win which saw the visitors hold off a number of Tigers’ surges after that early break.

“Winning today was all or nothing in trying to set us up for a good finals.

“Next week’s our last home game – against South. You don’t know what to expect from week to week. Every team is so close. We just have to make sure we respond and bounce back when teams come at us – particularly in those last halves of quarters.

“That’s something we’ve been focusing on this last half of the season … fighting back and being able to keep our heads when the opposition does start to bite back and I think it’s really starting to pay off – everything we’ve been putting into training is now coming out on game day.”

The Swallows’ task at the weekend was not helped by the late withdrawals of a couple of key midcourters.

“We lost Shaky Del (Shakara Delcastegne) and Eliza Burford, so we just had our seven today, but it was exciting to see we can do both styles of play – rotating or playing with seven,” Trigg said.

Indi Spratt was best on court with a tireless effort in the Swallows’ midcourt.

“Spratty did an incredible job stepping into centre and her fitness and work rate and intensity is really something,” the coach said.

Defender Kasey Caristo was also named among the blue-and-gold’s best, but special praise was also reserved for young defender Alice Leeder who had to take on former teammate and star goal shooter Zara Copley.

“To keep her head coming up against her old club and play the way she did today was incredible. She’s a real talent, that one,” Trigg said.

Red Cliffs’ coach Romany Bowen was less enthused about how the day panned out for her side, which has dropped its past two games and is holding on to fifth by only a game and percentage over South Mildura.

“They got off to an eight-point start and we lost by eight points,” Bowen said. “We threw the ball away a little bit, but my girls continued to fight and that’s all I could ask them to do.

“I just told them to play netball as best as they could and with what they could control.

“It’s definitely not the position we wanted to be in, but we will rally, stick with our group and see how this season ends out.”

The Tigers have the unenviable task of heading across the river to face league juggernaut Wentworth this Saturday.

“It’s week by week and Wentworth are definitely not unbeatable,” Bowen said.

“We give them the respect they are due, but every team starts at 0-0 in the first quarter. There’s four quarters and it can be anyone’s to win on any given day.

“We just have to turn up and try our best and see how we go.”

Copley and centre Jacqulyn Bell were named the hosts’ top performers.

THE DETAILS

Red Cliffs	32
Irymple	40

BEST

Red Cliffs

Jacqulyn Bell, Zara Copley 

Irymple

Kasey Caristo, Indi Spratt