Tara Murray
Diggers Rest was made to pay for not being switched on in the opening round of finals in the Riddell District Netball League.
Facing Woodend-Hesket in a qualifying final, it was the Hawks, who were playing A-grade finals for the first time, that came out the best.
They were able to maintain the lead throughout and keep composed when the Burras came within two goals in the last quarter.
The Hawks did enough to win, 32-27. The Hawks will now face Macedon for a spot in the grand final, while the Burras will play ??? in a knock out semi final.
Burras coach Pam Strong said they would learn a lot out of the game.
“We knew it would be a hard game,” she said. “It wasn’t great weather and our strength is playing short sharp netball and the dry weather suits our game as we’re not tall.
“It started to dry out which it did towards the end and we got within two.
“We had a few niggling things. We will learn from yesterday and use it to move forward.”
Strong said while the conditions didn’t suit them, they still needed to put out a better performance. She said the competition is so close, with all five teams capable of taking out the premiership.
“It’ll come down to the team that plays the best on the day,” she said.
“Anyone can beat anyone on their day.”
Strong said they had just one winner on the day, with Maggie Payne standing up in defence.
She said they would quickly move forward and focus on the knock out semi final against ????. Strong said she had been planning to watch the elimination final between Riddell and Wallan.
“We wanted to get a double chance and end up in one, two or three and we achieved that despite all the ups and downs throughout the season,” she said.
“We’ve done that and the next step is to win the premiership, which is something every team wants to achieve.
“We’ve got the ability, it’s up to the players now. I think we will learn from yesterday that if you don’t perform on the day and have an off day you’re unlikely to get the result.
“You don’t know what any team will put out on the day.”
It wasn’t all bad news with the Burras C-grade side winning through to face the Western Rams for a spot in the grand final.
The B-grade team, which had the week off after claiming the minor premiership, will face Macedon for a spot in the grand final.
