Tara Murray
Riddell is hoping a midseason reset will be the catalyst for a strong second half to the Riddell District Netball League season.
The Bombers had an up and down first part of the season including dropping a couple of matches to Diggers Rest and Romsey, they didn’t expect to drop.
They showed some positive signs the previous week against Wallan after a couple of weeks before, before producing their highest score of the season on Saturday against Kyneton.
Coach Emily Ktona said the side was all on the same page and keen for a big second half of the season.
“It was a tough middle part of the season,” she said. “We had a reset after the bye and the week off.
“We met online one rainy Thursday night and spoke about everything and what we could improve.
“I thought we had a pretty good hit out against Wallan and we feel we can get over the top of them. Yesterday [Saturday] it was nice to get a good win against Kyneton.”
Ktona said they were set to get a number of players back in the coming weeks to help strengthen their side.
Ruby Shannon has only played one match due to a broken nose and then being part of the Vic Fury team.
Xara Burge should be back soon, while Sahara Ball missed Saturday’s win due to Victorian Netball League restrictions.
Ktona said there were others that had been on restrictions as well. She said all three areas of the court were really starting to gel.
“It’s exciting for the second part of the season,” she said. “We have a really good solid base of nine players each week.
“We’ve seen a bit of a change in how we are playing and we’re happy with that.”
Ktona said Saturday’s match against Kyneton was a really pleasing one.
In cold conditions at the Kyneton Showgrounds, the Bombers extended the lead in every break on the way to a 61-38 win.
“We didn’t expect the wind to be that big,” Kton said. “It was freezing out there.
“We joked that maybe we need to play in rain every week if we play with that.
“We turned over a lot of their ball and were able to convert it. We don’t convert enough goals and it’s a big focus of us.
“It was more than we’ve been scoring.
Shelby Holter shot 46 goals for the Bombers.
The win has the Bombers in fourth spot.
They have a couple of big weeks ahead of them, facing second placed Woodend-Hesket and then third-placed Macedon.
Ktona said they were keen to give it a red hot crack and tell them where they’re at.
In other matches, Macedon had a 59-33 win against Diggers Rest, Woodend-Hesket snuck home against Lancefield, 47-46 and Romsey knocked off Wallan, 54-38.
