Tara Murray
The Western Warriors took a step back on Wednesday night in their loss to the Hawks in the Victorian Netball League championship.
After one of their better wins of the season on Sunday, the Falcons were well beaten by the Hawks.
The Hawks jumped out of the blocks and led early on and were able to maintain that lead through the second quarter.
After half time, the Hawks were able to blow the lead out to win, 71-51.
Warriors coach Kim Bailey was pretty disappointed with the result.
“We had a poor start and the momentum we had built the other week had gone out the window,” she said.
“It was disappointing considering we had a draw the last time we played them. We didn’t think we were out of it at half time.”
Bailey said they needed to take star goaler Kim Borger off in the second half and while it didn’t decide the result, it impacted how they were playing.
“We had a couple of things go against us in the third quarter,” she said. “We took Kim off and it changed the complexity of the game.
“Akira McCormack came on and did a great job, but there was a momentum swing and we didn’t recover from it.
“It’s something we’ve been working on and we couldn’t do it.”
Bailey said the first year side was starting to show some tiredness after a long season which has included a lot of travel the past two months.
Borger still led the goal scoring for the Warriors, finishing with 23 goals.
Ruby Shannon continued her outstanding form and was the Warriors best. Bailey was also pleased with the performance of under-23 captain Eliza Gollant who stepped up into champ.
“She played most of the game,” Bailey said. “With Nat Tomassini out, Eliza stepped up and did a great job and was probably our best defender.
“It’s good to get some championship experience under her belt. She’ll play up against next week.
The under-23s also suffered a loss to the Hawks, losing 68-42.
It was a poor start that proved costly for the Warriors against a quality side.
Bailey said they did some good things with Narena Baker playing her most complete game of the season and Shaid Sasalu did some good things.
Bailey said for both sides it’s a learning curve this season and they would take some good things into 2025.
The Warriors next week face City West Falcons.
The match will again be on the road, this time at Altona Sports Centre but Bailey said with many players living out that way, it wasn’t too far to travel.
“It will be a big challenge,” Bailey said. “We played well against them.
“Hopefully it’ll be more positive than last night’s [Wednesday] game.
