City West Falcons were taught a lesson on Wednesday night in the Victorian Netball League championship division.
While the results shows 55-53 loss, Falcons coach Marg Lind said it was a pretty disappointing result.
Lind said it was an important one in the context of their season.
“It was pretty disappointing,” she said. “It was a bit of scrappy game, but they were the better team.
“Kaylia Stanton was hard to control. We made some mistakes in crucial areas at crucial times.”
Lind said they didn’t start the game well and were down by four goals in the first quarter. That margin stayed steady until the final quarter when the Falcons reduced the gap.
She said they had their chances, but just didn’t convert.
The Falcons chances weren’t helped with Melissa Oloamanu missing the game. She was held out due to the national championships which are coming up.
Star shooter Jane Cook played the first few minutes of the game before heading to the bench, still feeling the effects of COVID-19.
Achel Yout came up from the under-19s to provide back up defence.
“She payed five or six minutes against Stanton who is really experienced,” Lind said.
“She did okay and will benefit from the experience, but she’s probably a couple of years off champ.
”Lind said defensively they were out of play too often and weren’t able to attack the ball how they would have liked.
“Sarah tried a few different things, but there was a bit of disconnect. Too many times someone out the front was out of the ball and we had the inability to turn the ball over.
Lind said Uneeq Palavi was good back in goal shooter, while Montana Holmes and Soli Ropati worked hard in the middle.
She said Ropati looked more comfortable in the wing attack position than earlier in the season.
The Falcons now sit 1-3 having lost their first two games of the season.
Lind said one of the things the players would learn out of the game was understanding the importance of results in the bigger scheme.
“It’s going to be a journey and it will take some time and effort,” she said.
“The club is rebuilding its leadership and culture. We had an important game and it’s about getting the players experienced enough to understand that.”
Lind said they would consider adding an experienced mid courter to strengthen their squad.
Having gone in with a smaller squad than usual they were struggling for options at time.
“Speaking to other clubs, there isn’t the same number of adult players looking to play netball, the talent pool isn’t there,” she said.
“Sides like Geelong have pretty stable sides. Teams that have not lost players and have got experience are ahead of the others.”
