Warrnambool solidifies position, South Warrnambool bounces back from rare loss in Hampden league

The fourth-placed Blues solidified their standing on the Hampden league table with a solid 47-43 win against a spirited Hamilton team on Saturday.

Poumako told The Standard it was a vital win for her group heading into the bye.

"That's what it did, it solidified top-five for us but anything can happen before the end of the season, that's for sure," she said.

"We've got tough games coming up and we'll have to work really hard but it was a really good win."

The Blues mentor said the Kangaroos really challenged her side.

"Hamilton is a really, really good team and all the injuries and outs they've had hasn't helped them," she said.

"Potentially they could have been a finals team and been a really tough team. They've had good contests with Cobden, drawing with Koroit so I think they're a great team that hasn't had a good run."

Poumako said the start to the game was a real positive.

"We were ready to play straight away and that's something we've been up and down with and we've been working hard on that," she said.

"Our focus individually as well was great."

Down at Leura Court, South Warrnambool bounced back from the loss to Cobden with a 57-45 win against Camperdown.

The Roosters, as they have for most of the season, found another gear at exactly the right time.

Roosters coach Will Jamison said it was pleasing to see the group respond from the things that didn't work against the Bombers and get some game time into the squad.

"We were pretty happy with the game, especially coming off a loss, it was important we were able to rotate all our players through, " he said.

"Particularly going into a bye we thought it was important to give everyone a run and get a look at different options across the court."

Returning from injury, Carly Watson was best-on-court with a dynamic display.

"She missed last week so was raring to get back into it," he said.

"From both an attacking and defensive perspective she was so strong for us and took a lot of clean ball as well. She was great."

Heading into the bye, Jamison said the group was looking forward to a chance to put the feet up.

"We'll use it as an opportunity to reset and recharge and probably not think about netball as much," he said.

"It's important for them to step away from what we're doing week in, week out.

"Once we come back, it's about focusing on our performance week-to-week. We think we've got work to do in building consistency across the match."

In the remaining matches, Terang Mortlake prevailed 58-57 in a thrilling contest against Port Fairy while Cobden proved too strong in its 63-39 win against Portland.

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