Tara Murray
The Sunbury Lions are looking forward to some tough tests on the run home in the Ballarat Netball League.
The Lions sit in fourth on the ladder after 14 rounds, having had their second bye on the season on Saturday.
Having not had an A-grade side last season, the Lions have shown they are set to be among the contenders come the pointy end of the season.
Lions coach Kim Bailey said finals were now the aim, having achieved their first goal many months ago.
“We are just cruising along,” she said. “We just wanted to get back on the court and have six sides, which didn’t seem likely early in the season.
“The next goal was for A-grade to make the top six. Where we finish is in the hands of the gods, we’re hoping to finish third.”
Bailey said they were only just starting to really come together having been a brand new side.
Having had a bye on the weekend, Bailey said they were just keen to get out there and play some more netball.
“This is our first season so in the run into finals, we need to play as much as we can,” she said.
“The VNL [Victorian Netball League] has just finished so some weary bodies can have some rest, but we would still like to be playing.”
The Lions have some tougher challenges in the run home, with matches against the top two sides Darley and North Ballarat among the last month of netball.
Bailey said while they had been winning some matches with large scores, they wanted to be tested a bit more.
“We play Melton which is playing some good netball and we’ve still got North Ballarat and Darley.
“We’ve been concerned we’ve had none of those close games and really being tested in the last little bit.
“We’ll head up there [North Ballarat and Darley] and it will be good experience for someone like Lani Fauonuku to play against a bit harder style.”
The Lions will have to finish the season without Georgia Hellyer, who was one of three Lions players across the club to do their ACL in recent weeks.
Bailey said those injuries had deflated the whole playing group. The Lions will try and qualify Olivia Taylor, while also bringing up Casey Barker from B-grade to give them some cover.
While the Lions A-grade is set to play finals, several other Lions sides are also still in the mix to play finals in positive news for the club.
