The relief was obvious for Woodend Hesket netballers on Saturday after they broke through for their first win of the season.
After some close calls in recent weeks they finally got on the winners’ list with a commanding performance over Sunbury Kangaroos, who were also winless this season.
The final margin of 67-29 showed the gap between the two sides.
It was a result that gave Hawks coach Wendy Roberts immense satisfaction.
“After nine rounds where we’ve played some very good sides we were very happy to get our first win of the season,” Roberts said.
“The lessons we’ve learnt over the first nine rounds really allowed us to take ownership of our individual play and limit our unforced errors.
“We really focused on defence and mixing up the speed of play when we had possession and it all came together for us.”
The Hawks shot out of the blocks with 19 goals in the first quarter as Alex Watkins and Madeline Staresina made the most of the good supply coming their way under the ring.
Watkins in particular shone, shooting at 90 per cent for the opening term as the visitors opened up an 11-goal buffer at the first change.
The game evened up in the second quarter as the Hawks took a 15-goal lead into the break, but they blew the game open in the third quarter.
Defensively, the Hawks kept the Kangaroos to just three goals from six shots in the third quarter, while at the other end there were 19 goals scored.
The big lead allowed Roberts to mix things up in the final quarter, trying players in new positions safe in the knowledge they could not be beaten.
Watkins would finish with 33 goals, while Staresina was also prolific with 27 goals. Claire Klusik was brilliant in defense.
“The girls all really brought everything together in this game,” Roberts said. “We’d focused on the psychology of netball recently and not being intimidated by the opposition and it was good to see the girls just go out there and execute our plans well.
“Everyone took ownership of their own skill-set and their role within the team. We’ve learnt from these strong teams that we have played recently and kept the ball moving quickly and stayed moving for the full four quarters.”
With six games to play, Roberts is hopeful more wins will now follow for the Hawks.
“I’m looking forward to playing some of those sides again and getting another crack at them,” she said.
“We’ve been decreasing margins, now we’ve got a win. Now we want to test ourselves and see where we’re at and hopefully improve on those earlier games.”
