Tara Murray
The Western Warriors showed plenty of mental resolve to get a second win on the trot in the Victorian Netball League championship.
Coming off their best win for the season against the Geelong Cougars, the Warriors faced the winless Peninsula Waves on Wednesday night.
The Waves tested the Warriors early before they were able to steady and come away with a 70-53 win.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey said the Waves really pushed them early on.
“Two in a row is great,” she said. “That is the best I’ve seen them [Waves] play.
“They really shut us down in the first half, I’m just really happy in the second half we were able to go back to our structures to our plan and just Accelerate from there and get a nice win in the end.”
One of the pleasing aspects for Bailey was seeing the side being able to mentally work through what they needed to do.
Times earlier in the season they haven’t been able to do that.
“It’s something that we’ve really concentrated on and we spoke about in depth at training and before the game that they’re really chasing a win and you know they’ve got a great target underneath the post,” she said.
“But we need to be alert and ready to play and not think, yeah we won a game last week and we’re gonna win it.
“No game went you walk onto the court will be an instant win. You have to work really really hard in VNL and we did that.”
Bailey said she thought Georgia Berry had a really strong game in defence.
She also highlighted the performance of Julia Woolley, who stepped up in goals, with Kim Borger not feeling 100 per cent.
“Juls was on fire again,” Bailey said. “It took a little while, but she is such a leader on the court too.
“It’s just what she teaches the other young kids around her. I think Simmy [Simona Di Filippo] has really come into her game since she’s been playing with Juls.”
The Warriors sit in seventh spot after 14 rounds. The closeness of the competition has fourth placed Hawks on 28 points and 10th placed Casey Demons are on 20 points.
“It can go anyway at the moment,” Bailey said.
“You look at your losses and your wins. We dropped a game we most probably should have won against MU and we would have been within two points or maybe even in the four.
“It’s such an amazing season and it just shows the evenness of the competition.”
The Warriors under-23s had another loss, losing 51-43.
Bailey said it was the same sort of thing as the previous round where they were great for three quarters and they then lost focus in the last quarter.
It’s something she said they will work on at training.
The Warriors championship side has a bye this week, with the under-23 side facing the Gippsland Stars.
Bailey said the bye came at a good time after having played a lot on the road in the last six weeks.
