It may have been a nail-biting loss to a tough and experienced opposition, but the Central Highlands Netball League’s senior interleague team put on a strong display.
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Central Highlands went down to Riddell District Football Netball League by two goals in the Worksafe Community Championships at Buninyong Football Netball Club on Saturday, 45-43.
But the home team, which many considered to be underdogs, led at every break and by as much as 10 goals in the second quarter provoking a response from Riddell.
Central Highlands coach Jordan O’Keefe said while a disappointing end result, his players had been competitive and believed they had taken Riddell by surprise.
“I’m really proud of what all the girls did out there,” he said. “During that time when we really pushed the lead out in the third quarter, we were playing with a lot of freedom and letting the ball go a bit more. But what Riddell did was read that really well and cut off our avenues to goal.”
O’Keefe said the Riddell attack end had played very smart in the last quarter and while the Central Highlands’ players knew what connections to break, the players were unable to do it soon enough and ran out of time.
O’Keefe named goal shooter Rachel Grawich (Waubra) and goal keeper Caitlyn McPhee (Ballan) as standout performers.
“Rachel had a great day under the ring and got a lot of attention from the defenders, and Caitlyn got attention as well because of her height, so I thought they really did their jobs well,” he said.
“I think we put up a really good performance, but unfortunately we weren’t able to exploit a couple of Riddell’s weak links as much as I would have liked and they ended up exploiting us a little bit in the end.”
Central Highlands have now lost two interleague games on home court, but have won their two away games over the past four years. O’Keefe hoped, despite the result, support for interleague would continue.
“What I’ve found over the last five years is that players that are normally rivals establish really strong friendships… so that is a really positive thing to take away from the experience,” he said.
Meanwhile, Riddell District dominated the under-17 clash defeating Central Highlands, 36-22, after leading throughout the game.
But, against tough opponents, the Central Highlands players held their heads high and played with a positive attitude and intent until the final whistle sounded.
OTHER MATCHES:
Senior Netball: West Gippsland Football Netball League 51 d Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League 35
Under-17 Netball: West Gippsland Football Netball League 77 d Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League 20