NIRRANDA has emerged as a bona fide contender and is relishing the security of a two-point buffer in first place after sinking Kolora-Noorat by 20 goals.
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Blues mentor Steph Townsend urged her side to turn up its intensity prior to the match and watched a 10-goal lead form by half-time.
Townsend, who shot 25 goals in combination with Old Collegians recruit Sophie Adams, reserved praise for her defenders’ roles in the triumph.
“Lisa (Anders) was fantastic down there. She really capitalised on their missed shots,” she said.
“I wish I did stats for her rebounds, because I think she would have been right up there towards 15 turnovers.
“That goes to show when teams are a little inaccurate, we know we’ve got Lisa down there to capitalise on that and she is working in well with Katie (Ryan).
“If you were to take Lisa away from the Kolora-Noorat game, and it would have been a lot tighter.”
Despite the Blues’ defensive talent, Townsend said offensive moves had been the focus of training in recent weeks.
She described the fast start as “our best of the season”.
“We’ve struggled to get off to a good start and I don’t think we’ve come out with the intensity, or the hunger straight up,” Townsend said.
“It’s hard to get the right combinations down the attacking end so we can score and not turn that ball over.
“I think that’s probably our best start and it put it us in a good side.”
The talented cricketer said she was unsure of what to expect from Kolora-Noorat after widespread changes to the Power’s playing group.
“I didn’t know what to expect, they’re a new-look team. We set ourselves some goals offensively and defensively and I think we hit them quite well,” she said.
Kolora-Noorat coach Faye Clarke condemned a slow start and said it was to blame for the loss.
“We were playing catch up netball the whole time. It’s hard when you’re playing a good side, and you’re behind to start with,” she said.
“We worked hard and we did everything we could but their goaling was just incredible. It made them very hard to beat.”
While disappointed to lose, Clarke said positives could be extracted from the defeat.
She told The Standard the on-court performance was up to standard but said “it wasn’t our day”.
“We were able to get it in to the ring, but they didn’t sink and the game just didn’t go our way,” Clarke said.
