Gisborne build for finals

Kyneton's Michelle Fletcher tries to hold off Gisborne's Melinda Luke. Picture Shawn Smits.

The Bulldogs sit second on the ladder, four points behind Sandhurst, who they drew with last week. Bulldogs coach Guy Keane said his side was building nicely.

“We are travelling really well having hit the halfway mark of the season and we have to make sure we keep on building,” he said.

“The top five is really close and it will come down to whoever is playing the best netball on the day that will get the win.

“We need to make sure we’re playing our best netball in the second half of the season.”

On Saturday, the Bulldogs accounted for Kyneton 67-32.

Despite the comprehensive score, Keane said the match was much closer than what the score showed.

“Kyneton has really improved from the first time we played them,” he said. “The score didn’t reflect the match and we didn’t take them lightly.

“We put our netball brand on the court and blew the game out at the end.”

Keane said skipper Maddy Stewart, along with youngsters Melinda Luke and Keara Fitzgerald were the standouts.

“The win came off really good defence,” he said. “That’s the best overall combination we’ve had from them. Our attacking end did a really good job as well.”

Keane said there were positive signs heading into the future with Fitzgerald and Luke still young enough to play under-17s.

He said Holly Doricic, another under-17 player, would get her opportunity the next few weeks, with several players on holidays.