Diggers Rest is ready to make its move in the Riddell District Netball League.
After a tough draw and injuries to key players hampered the season’s start, the Burras enter the second half of the year at full strength and desperate to repeat a finals appearance on top of last year’s.
While her side sits outside the top six, Diggers Rest coach Amy Carroll is taking plenty of positives from the opening eight rounds.
The Burras got the better of last year’s premiers, Melton Centrals, and were also competitive against perennial powerhouses Rupertswood and Riddell.
“I think we’ve actually started a bit better than we did last year,” Carroll said.
“We’ve played a lot of the top teams for the first part of the season and had losses against Riddell and Rupo, but I still thought they were quite strong games.
“I don’t think the scores really reflected what those games were actually like.”
Carroll is full of praise for her side’s defenders who, she says, have done an outstanding job through the first half of the season.
First-year player Megan Jennings hasn’t missed a beat since joining the Burras and has formed a strong combination with Georgia Vicendese.
Together, the pair has caused major headaches for some of the league’s top attackers.
Carroll believes the key to taking the next step is the Burras limiting their unforced errors.
“Those top sides have got a lot of really strong VNL [Victorian Netball League] players whereas our girls probably aren’t as experienced,” she said.
“When we make those unforced errors, the top teams really capitalise on them and it becomes a two- or three-goal turnaround each time.
“Hopefully, that’s where we can improve,” Carroll said. “It’s just the occasional bad pass or missed goal.”
Following back-to-back byes, Diggers Rest will be on court next week against Rockbank.
It will be the perfect opportunity for the Burras to kickstart a charge towards the finals, with the Rams having just one win for the season.
While the young Burras did an outstanding job just to make finals last season, Carroll would like to see her side take another step forward in its development this year.
“We definitely want to make the finals … that would be our first goal,” she said.
“Then, being a lot more competitive in those finals would be our main goal this year.
“I think we’re really building as a team and, hopefully, in the years coming we can be one of those dominating teams.”
