THE Ballarat Sovereigns were left to rue a sluggish start as it succumbed to Geelong Cougars by 20 goals in its round 12 Victorian Netball League clash.
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The Cougars were fast out of the blocks, taking a 20-11 lead at quarter-time.
ACU Sovereigns were competitive for the next two quarters, cutting the deficit to eight goals on multiple occasions in the third term and trailed by 10 at three quarter-time.
But the visitors again took control of the match, doubling its lead over the next 15 minutes as Geelong claimed the inaugural Midland Cup.
In senior coach Joh Curran’s absence Ash Chapman and high performance director Eloise Southby took the reins.
Southby was disappointed to allow Geelong to make the early running, but drew confidence from the middle two quarters.
The next step for the 2-10 Sovereigns is to consistently perform at that level for four quarters.
“We spoke before the game about getting a good start, particularly against Geelong … so it was a bit annoying that they got a six or seven goal lead on us early,” Southby said.
“I have the utmost confidence in the ACU Sovereigns that they could beat anyone in the competition, but it’s about putting four quarters together and we didn’t do that. You can’t play two quarters of netball at this level and expect to win.”
Sovereigns, now in its second season in the VNL, have exposed some of the clubs youth to championship division netball in 2016.
With the likes of Amelia Brock and Casey Adamson thriving in the top division.
While the inexperience has seen fluctuations in the sides performance in the short-term, Southby expects to see the benefits in the years to come.
“This is their first year of championship netball, most teams don’t have that. But I think they’re doing really well, we’ll reap the rewards in the next couple of years from that.”