City West Falcons have taken up residence in their familiar spot at the front of the pack after three rounds of the Victorian Netball League championship.
The Falcons have sent out young and inexperienced line-ups yet recorded two comfortable wins and a draw.
Falcons coach Marg Lind was pragmatic about the early season form and is not reading much into her side’s lofty standing.
“We’re going all right but it’s going to be a tough season,” she said.
“There’s a lot of new faces and there’s probably a bit of a loss of experience across the league, so it will be a matter of which younger crew will be able to get their act together a bit earlier.
“Maybe by round five or six we’ll see a little bit of separation, but I don’t think there’s going to be as much as there has been in the past.”
City West has sounded a warning to the rest of the competition with substantial consecutive wins.
The Falcons breezed past the Peninsula Waves 48-34 in their latest game at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Wednesday night without their Vixens stars Chloe Watson and Emily Mannix.
They produced a 15 goals to six third quarter to bust the game open.
Some positional moves at half-time proved crucial for the Falcons.
“We changed our defensive strategy and our set-up on the centre pass,” Lind said.
“We thought we were a little bit ineffective on a couple of things we were doing.”
Maggie Lind was moved into the centre and Clare Moylan went to wing defence, with both going on to have profound impacts on the second half.
The distribution to goal shooter Kath Knott and goal attack Steph Tyrell improved.
Knott was back to her devastating best with 26 goals at 84 per cent.
Tyrell, a new recruit from Monash University Storm, scored 22 at 74 per cent.
The goaler combination is fast becoming a strength for the Falcons.
“Each week we’re seeing an incremental shift forward,” Marg Lind said.
“They’re quite a good combination and there’s quite a bit more to come there.”
The level of competition will ratchet up for the Falcons tonight in a grand final re-match with the Southern Saints at the SNHC from 8.20pm.
The Saints spoiled the party last season after the Falcons made it all the way to the grand final without having lost a game.
Lind is wary of the threat.
“When you win premierships, you get that quiet confidence about you,” she said. “They’ll be tough.”
