Tara Murray
Werribee Centrals are peaking at the right time in the Geelong and District Netball League.
Having finished the regular season in fourth after an up and down season, the Centrals started to hit some form in the final round of the season.
They’ve continued that into finals and now face East Geelong in the grand final on Saturday.
Centrals co-coach Casey Price said she would never rule her side out when it came to finals.
“If I was to back a side in to do it the hard way, it would be Centrals,” she said.
“We started to find form against Winchelsea in the final round of the season. We’ve been able to carry that through into the finals series.
“We’re on the right side of form, which isn’t a bad place to be in finals.”
On Saturday, Centrals beat Winchelsea for the second time in a number of weeks, winning 46-33.
Price said they were able to get out to a 10 goal lead at half time, before being able to consolidate that and continue on in the second half.
“It was a good start and it was a good day of netball,” she said. “The girls have been pretty consistent and so calibrated in the team approach.”
Price said while there were a number of good contributors, there were three that stood out.
Caitlin Hendrickson had a phenomenal game in defence shutting down Winchelsea’s goal attack. Ellie Vincent got a lot of ball in the shooting circle, while Natasha Dimkovski was strong in the mid court.
For Centrals, the performance sees them return to the final day of the year, where they have been so many times before.
Price said they had a really good mix this year and it had paid off.
“We’ve been interrupted by COVID,” she said. “Some players have returned after kids now.
“We have a really nice mix of older players and youth. We’re more consistent and back where we used to be deep into September.
Centrals now face East Geelong in the grand final. East Geelong had the weekend off.
Price said they were expecting a tough game.
“We’re expecting a close game,” she said. “The first game we won comfortably, before the second match was the other way round.
“We’re both strong defence teams and the best two teams in terms of goals conceded. It will be a really good game and whoever puts it on court will win.”
The A-grade side joins the under-19s in the grand final.
Centrals’ under-17s and under-15s were knocked out, after losses in their preliminary finals.
