Tara Murray
The bye has come at the wrong time for the Sunbury Jets in the Big V women’s state championship division.
After a slow start to the season, the Jets finally had their full complement of players available for their most recent match against the McKinnon Cougars.
But with the long weekend, the Jets and the rest of the competition had the weekend off.
Jets coach Ben Draper said they had mixed feelings about whether the break was a good thing or not for his side.
“We were starting to get on a roll,” he said. “It’s good to have a week off but it would have been nice to run with the flow.
“We had our first game with a full roster which was nice and we were able to get a good win.”
The match against McKinnon would prove to be a good one for the Jets as they showed the gap between them and the top three sides had closed.
The win for the Jets would be a convincing one, 81-54, with Draper saying there were a lot of good signs in the performance.
“We played with a lot of poise which we hadn’t done for a while,” he said. “We were a lot more confidence and we had a really good spread.
“Ida [Andersson] and Maria [Jespersen} have a lot of attention put into them and they did a really good job definitely.
“Ida though was able to distribute the ball and facilitate and still play a big role. Nicole Cameron had 22 points and no one would have predicted that on the scouting report.”
Draper said while the performance was pleasing, they still had plenty of room for improvement.
He said the whole squad was yet to train together as a group, which once they could would help build on their connections.
The side was given the week off due to the break, before a massive run of matches in the next month.
The fourth placed Jets face the Bulleen Boomers [second], Wyndham [first], Hume [fifth] in their next three matches.
Draper said they would get a good idea of where they sit after their period of matches.
“Hopefully we should have everyone together, touchwood, for the second half of the season and we can come home well,” he said.
“Bulleen the first game back will be really interesting test to see whether we can put it together again.
“Wyndham hurt us really hard earlier in the season, when we didn’t have anyone. They’re a very disciplined side.
“Those two matches will let us know where we’re at. Then we have a couple of really important games against sides that are right on our heels.
The Jets men’s side, which sits on top of the table, faces Chelsea Gulls at Boardman Stadium on Saturday night.
