NIRRANDA premiership coach Steph Townsend's decision to change up her side's approach to pre-season has survived its first real test of the year on Saturday.
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In hot conditions the Blues proved to their leader the hard work they put in during the off-season is starting to pay off with a 25-goal victory over South Rovers.
"We did a lot more running than we previously had," Townsend said of her shift in approach to the Blues' pre-season preparations.
"It was short and sharp stuff like we would expect in netball games and we did it twice a week with some injury prevention as well.
"The biggest thing was we did a lot more running and it definitely paid off on a day like today."
Townsend was pleased with how her side moved the ball down the court, mentioning in previous weeks that entry into the attacking third had been an issue.
"We have been concentrating on decision making and how we had thrown it in," she said. "Today I was happy considering the conditions we were in.
"I don't think there were many throw-aways as we were working a bit harder and thinking about what we were doing and it was just up to us goalies to try to score from that."
The goal attack was also pleased with her goalie partner 14-year-old Montana Wallace, who replaced unavailable regular shooter Sophie Adams.
"I've worked a lot with her just about settling in the game and she played fantastic," Townsend said.
"The beauty of having Montana is we have that added depth and I definitely won't hesitate to put her on the court even if it was to put Sophie, who she has been combining well with at training, or I out.
"Putting her in for me means I can do some coaching from sidelines during the season and it gives us another option. It's quite good to have that up my sleeve."
Nirranda now sit second on the ladder with three straight wins. South Rovers will now look to regroup after recording their second loss from two games so far this season.
The Blues have the bye next weekend, while the Lions return to action at home against Kolora-Noorat.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
