Tara Murray
The City West Falcons came out on top in a danger game against Melbourne University in the Victorian Netball League championship on Wednesday night.
The Falcons entered the game on the back of five straight wins, but the Lightning is one side that always challenges them.
It took until half time for the Falcons to take control of the game. They were able to run away with it in the second, winning 73-51.
Falcons coach Marg Lind said they were pretty happy with that result.
“It took a while to establish ourselves,” she said. “They are pretty hard on the first ball.
“They were a danger side, as they have some big names and a fair bit of experience.
“We started to get on top half way mark.”
Despite being such an important game, the Falcons were able to rest Uneeq Palavi and Lucia Fauonuku, who had returned from national duties.
Kim Borger played a second straight match for the Falcons, while Molly Kennedy got another opportunity in the defence end.
Lind said that Borger was better for the run.
“She played both in goal attack and goal shooter,” she said. “Jane had some big volume and we were reluctant to take her off as she was matching up well, so Kim and Maddy basically played a half each at goal attack.
“Credit to our girls and Kim, they were settled a bit more after a week under the belt. We have good flexibility and some good leadership that pays off under pressure.”
Lind said Cook, who shot 54 goals and Maggie Lind were really good, while their defenders were solid.
She said they had turned their attention to the attacking end the last couple of weeks.
“During the Easter break we spent three weeks on specialist defence,” she said.
“We neglected the attack end and turned to that in the last week or so and it’s already paying off.
“We thought Sienna [Allen], Sophie [Hanrahan] and Zoe [Davies] needed some focus.
“The attack end has scored 500 goals, so we have the capacity to score in a large volume.”
Lind said the whole playing group was really buying into what they were doing, with every player having individual key performance indicators that they had to meet.
The Falcons division 1 side also had a good win, to consolidate their spot in the top three.
The under-19s suffered their first loss of the season.
“They were a little complacent,” Lind said. “We were up 16-13 and then failed to score.
“Handling errors and lack of concentration. They needed it, it happened last year too.”
The Falcons are back at Altona for the second time in three weeks next week, facing the Wilson Storage Southern Saints on Wednesday night.
Lind said they were hoping to have a big crowd there, with matches starting from 7pm.
