City West Falcons held on to their place in the Victorian Netball League championship top four with a dominant 20-goal win over Southern Saints on Sunday.
The Falcons had control of the game from the start, blowing the Saints away early to set up a handy lead and then building on it throughout the game.
The final score of 70-50 showed the gulf between the two sides over the night and Falcons coach Marg Lind was happy with what she saw.
“We got off to an excellent start which put us in a good position going forward,” Lind said.
“It was a nice build across the game. They made some changes late in the first half and we were able to stave that off so that was very pleasing also.”
The Falcons wasted little time in getting on the front foot, jumping to an 8-1 lead inside the opening five minutes.
From there the game levelled out until after half-time, when the Falcons again managed to steadily increase their lead, while also keeping scoring in check at the other end.
The Falcons used Jane Cook for a half and Kath Knott for the other up forward, and both offered different attacking styles and kept the Saints’ defenders guessing.
Lind said the versatility her side has shown in recent games had given her plenty of options towards finals.
“I think defensively we’ve got a way to go, but I think out of all the teams in the competition we’ve got the most improvement ahead of us,” she said.
“Now it’s just a matter of with the time left, can we can actually maximise our development?
“This was a really important win for us in the fight for finals, and with some big games coming up every win is going to be crucial.”
The Falcons have a tough run coming up, with second-placed North East Blaze on Wednesday, followed by Peninsula Waves to round out three games in seven days.
Lind said the next week would be a delicate balancing act.
“It’s not an easy task, because we really can’t afford to do any training in that time and we need that training time for our development,” she said.
“Physically they should be up for it, and we’ll just have to adapt and coach in the moment and get that development in game-time instead.
“We’ll just have to fight hard.”
