HEYWOOD will take its great winning form from its victory over Westerns last week into its match with Cavendish today at Heywood Recreation Reserve in the (SWDFNL) A Grade netball competition.
The Lions dropped to sixth place on SWDFNL premiership ladder despite posting a huge upset victory against Westerns last round.
Heywood is battling Coleraine for the fifth spot and the Maroons leapfrogged the Lions last week with a commanding victory against Branxholme-Wallacedale that saw Coleraine gain a tiny advantage in percentage.
The form of Jessica Lovett-Murray in the midcourt and Shakira Stuchbery up front was instrumental in Heywood posting victory last weekend and these two players will be looking to carry that form into the game against Cavendish.
The last time these two teams met was back in round five when the Bloods had a comfortable 37-goal victory over the Lions, but that form has disappeared for Cavendish as the team has won only a single game from its last four.
The Bloods played well against the juggernaut that is the Tyrendarra team and posted 52 goals which in most games would be enough to win, but they were 12 goals behind when the final whistle blew.
“We’re expecting Heywood to come out full of confidence on the weekend after their win against Westerns, and rightfully so, it sounds like they had a great game,” Cavendish coach, Marni Luhrs said.
“We’ll be focusing on slowing down their midcourt as much as possible as we can’t afford to let players like Shakira Stuchbery and Jessica Lovett-Murray have too much control over their attacking end.
“With someone as experienced as Hayley Friend running their centre, they’ll take advantage of any momentum they gain while moving the ball forward.
“Unfortunately, we will not be at full strength again this week, as we have a few lingering ankle injuries that are still hanging around, but we’re hoping to be back to full strength after our bye next week,” Luhrs said.
Branxholme-Wallacedale v Dartmoor
DARTMOOR climbed to second on the ladder last week after Westerns suffered a shock loss to Heywood and the Giants will not want to let go of their spot before the finals arrive in five weeks’ time.
Dartmoor travels to Branxholme today to battle an improving Saints team that is starting to perform as a unit and is slowly building for the future.
While an upset is not really on the cards for the home side, the Saints will ensure that the Giants earn the victory by playing a tighter brand of netball than was on show back in round five when they suffered a 45-goal spanking.
Dartmoor will not be at full strength for the encounter with Leesa Logan unavailable, as well as Danielle Van Kalken but Dartmoor coach, Elise Haw is hopeful of getting Georgia Bryden back.
“Georgia is looking to return after an ankle injury and we will see how she pulls up after training before making a decision on whether she plays or not, but Danielle will return next week,” Haw said.
Tyrendarra v Coleraine
COLERAINE is holding down fifth place on the SWDFNL premiership ladder by a bare 0.2 percentage points from Heywood, and the Maroons have the toughest task in the competition when they travel to Tyrendarra to battle the best side in the league.
Tyrendarra has swept all before it since round two when the side suffered its only loss (against Dartmoor), and it enters today’s game as raging favourites.
Hannah Van Gemst has been a revelation for the Darras, and she is easily the highest scoring player in the competition.
The tall goal attack is the one player that must be stopped if the Maroons are going to cause a huge upset, but that is easier said than done - even if Coleraine chooses to double-team her.
With Eliza Fitzpatrick in doubt for the game due to injury, Tyrendarra will be unchanged from their last match while Coleraine will not be at full strength either as they miss Gabby Sullivan and Abbey Irving from the contest.
