Tara Murray
The Western Warriors couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the Victorian Netball League season.
Fielding teams for the first time, the Warriors came away with wins in the championship and under-23 divisions on night one.
Warriors head coach Kim Bailey was thrilled with the outcome.
“It was amazing,” she said. “What a way to start it was really pleasing for the first game.
“There were errors and things and we need to improve. For our first time on court competitively together it was amazing.
“You have practice matches but it’s not the same thing. It was awesome to watch them and think about what we can look like at the end of the season.”
Bailey said she didn’t know what to expect with the two sides when they stepped onto the court.
The championship side jumped out of the blocks against the Peninsula Waves before finishing off strongly in a 67-50 win.
Bailey said it wasn’t the smoothest game, but a good starting point. She said the next step would be having that sustained consistency across the whole game.
“The first quarter we shot 20 goals,” she said. “It is amazing.
“You have targets of 15 goals in a quarter, so 20 goals in any quarter is massive, I was really proud of them.
“It was even for the next two quarters. The amount of errors we made… We would get turnover play and then throw it away.
“At three quarter time we to take out the errors, it was unacceptable the amount of errors we had.
“The last quarter was exceptionally.
Captain Kim Borger was a standout on court, shooting 49 goals at 96 per cent accuracy.
Bailey said her connection with Julia Woolley was really good.
In a massive positive, the Warriors were able to get every player on court.
“That is a focus with rolling subs, so we can do that in championship,” she said. “Jasmine Fraser played almost a full game at goal defence and did an outstanding job.
“Ruby Shannon her work rate was amazing. We gave her a bit of a rest, rotating with Vanessa Augustini.”
Bailey said it was about finding the right combinations early in the season.
Ella Ogier went down with an ACL injury before the season started, leaving the Warriors with some questions in their defensive end.
Bailey said they would look at different options between now and their next game.
The under-23s started with a 41-35 win.
Bailey said the work rate of Tara O’Grady was massive before she went off with blisters. She said Ella Closter settled in when she came on court in her VNL debut, while Rosie Todd, Sarah Croft and Sadie Cheeseman all had strong games.
The Warriors next matches are on March 17 against the Geelong Cougars in Torquay.
