Rupertswood pulled off the first real big upset of the Riddell District Netball League season with a comprehensive win against Lancefield.
The Tigers entered the game as favourites having lost only one match for the season, and only by one goal, while the Sharks had struggled against the sides above them on the ladder.
Sharks coach Di McCormack thought if they could come away with a competitive performance, and maybe even sneak a close win, she would have been happy.
So she didn’t see the start-to-finish 55-41 win coming.
In the end, the margin could have been bigger if the Sharks hadn’t switched their combinations around in the last quarter.
“I thought we could give them a good run,” McCormack said.
“The last two weeks we’ve just clicked. Everything we’ve been working on is starting to come together and our combinations are coming together. It was a real good team performance.”
McCormack said the shooting combination of Hayley Mathews and Amy Starzer had been building each week.
Mathews shot 31 goals and Starzer 24 goals in the win, with both girls shooting 80 per cent or higher.
“Hayley has really matured this season,” McCormack said. “Amy back at goal shooter, controls the circle, and Hayley is feeding really well off her.”
At the other end, Clare Johnson stepped up in the absence of Jess Dominko, who is out with a knee injury.
The previous week, Lara Keating was able to do the same job.
Having beaten sides above them on the ladder, Melton Centrals and Lancefield, in the past two weeks, McCormack is starting to re-adjust her expectations for the season.
The Sharks are in fourth spot.
“I didn’t think we would finish higher than fifth this year,” she said. “If we could finish third on the ladder, that would be really good. We do have a tough draw and we’ll find out in the next few weeks where we sit.
“We play Diggers Rest this week, then have Macedon and Romsey, who are the top-two teams. In the games we’ve had against them, it’s been 10-goal margins, which have only blown out because of two or three mistakes in one quarter.”
For the Tigers, Taylah Watson was their best in the loss to Rupertswood and Tahnysha Salanoa shot 23 goals.
While the Sharks’ A-grade side snared a surprise victory, the B-grade side didn’t win for the first time since round 16, 2015. It settled for a draw with Lancefield.
In other A-grade matches, Macedon remained undefeated after defeating Melton Centrals, Riddell beat Sunbury Kangaroos, Diggers Rest returned to the winners’ list against Rockbank and Romsey smashed Woodend-Hesket.
