Old Collegians hold off determined Russells Creek to bank first win of netball season

For Old Collegians mentor Jemmah Lynch, her side's A Grade netball victory in the Warrnambool and District league on Saturday against Russells Creek, 36-34, was by no means perfect, but still vitally important.

"It was a tighter contest than what we were hoping," she said.

"We had one out with COVID, had some injuries and another with a chest infection but we had a lot of juniors that were able to step up and get the job done."

One of those juniors to flourish in the sunny but windy conditions was emerging youngster Frankie Butters.

"Frankie, she stepped into Lauren Vawser's role for us who was out with COVID and she took her opportunity with both hands and was rewarded," Lynch said.

"She's been putting in a lot of work and for a kid of her age to play after playing a full game in juniors is a good opportunity - she had a set role and executed it perfectly."

The Creekers managed to stick with the Warriors for most of the afternoon and looked dangerous with their movement up the court in patches, but Lynch said the depth and added maturity really shone through.

"We've got a number of fresh faces on court so we're still finding our own, and we've got a lot of juniors who can step up quite seamlessly," she said.

"It's really nice for them to be part of the group."

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Down at Timboon, the Demons and South Rovers played out a quality affair, ultimately concluding in a 42-42 score despite some conjecture surrounding the final result.

Lions mentor Kylie Carter revealed her side believed they had won the match.

"Apparently the scoreboard was wrong, but it is what it is, we can't change the perspective but it is disappointing when they think you've had a one-goal win," she said.

"The end to the game was pretty disappointing for the girls, but it's a draw, not a loss and it's only round three, and we'll come away from this stronger I suppose and not learn to not put your foot off the pedal."

Carter said despite the end result, there was strong some patches of netball from her side, with Amy Jenkins, Zahra Walker and Lilly Schrama named in the best.

"A couple of girls had just come back from COVID, for the girls to stand up and play as well as they did was great but we let that lead escape," she said.

"To Timboon's credit they shot amazingly well, they always come at you hard particularly at home.

"We were aware they were going to be a strong competition."

Demons co-coach Bethany Hallyburton said to show some strong resolve late in the match was impressive.

"They got a good jump on us, so to come back was great, the last five minutes was pretty intense from both teams," she said.

"It was a great game, really competitive - the girls have a lot of determination and not giving up in the last quarter is what you want in your side.

"We had some fresh legs through the game which helped us in the end."

Nina Barlow, Tanya McKenzie and Ashlee Finch each turned in strong individual performances for the Demons.

"They all played their roles really well - Nina gave us speed down the court and it feeds into the ring," she said.

"Ash was able to played a great role on South's dominant goalie and made her work even harder in the ring and Tanya was really steady and played a few different positions and did them well."

In the remaining matches, Nirranda was merciless in its 84-15 win against Allansford to continue its dominant start to the season. Amanda Gilbert (44 goals) and Chelsea Quinn (30) combined for 74 goals for the Cats in a dominant showing, with the ever-dynamic Steph Townsend once again excellent.

Dennington got the job done 40-26 against Kolora-Noorat, while Merrivale prevailed 44-34 against Panmure in a great result for the Tigers.

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