By Nick Creely
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 12 (SPLIT ROUND)
This is a win that will be remembered for a long time at Pakenham.
With their backs against the wall, and with just one win next to its name on the ladder, the Lions – inspired by the presence of life members and supporters – picked up a memorable upset win over premiership fancy Narre Warren on Saturday, 55-47.
After a winless 2017, these wins are what can build a club up from the ground, and instil confidence moving forward.
Coach Karen Meredith said that while the win/loss column hasn’t been in her side’s favour, they were building for a performance as impressive as this after putting in so much effort throughout the season to improve and become more competitive.
“It was a really good day – the girls had been threatening that in quarters across the season and hadn’t been able to put it all together for a whole game,” she said.
The club – supporting the Amy Gillett Foundation on the day – had big crowds around Toomuc Reserve on Saturday, and it seemed to inspire Meredith’s side to victory.
“We had quite a few life members watching, and they’ve seen us through a lot of our losses, so it was really great for them to see us beat a team like Narre,” she said.
“They’ve been the one that’s supported us, and to do it on the day supporting the Amy Gillett Foundation is really special.”
There were plenty of stars around the court for the Lions, but none more so than attacking weapons Taylor Dykstra (31 goals) and Kyla Esler (24), who were almost unstoppable.
Meredith said that the improvement this season has come from her side spending more time learning to play with one another.
“We didn’t do that well against them the first time around, and our focus was to show them how much we’ve improved and how far we’ve come – our mission is showing what we can do, rather than worrying about what can happen to other teams,” she said.
“There’s a lot more belief, confidence and trust in each other – some of the girls may have been a bit overawed by the new girls we bought in, but they’re finding some self-belief and now understand they can all play great netball together.”
The Lions get the chance for back to back wins when they face the winless Berwick on Saturday at Edwin Flack Reserve.
In the other match on Saturday, Beaconsfield all but booked in a top two spot with a 64-30 win over Berwick at Holm Park.
The Eagles – who are a class outfit – were too strong from the outset, with plenty of stars in Ashleigh Gill, Bianca Sanzaro and Kaela Hughes enjoying dominant days at the office.
For the Wickers, Emma Clarke (22 goals) was a lone hand in a superb game.
Other matches to come this weekend will be a clash between Cranbourne and Officer, Narre Warren and Beaconsfield, and the undefeated Tooradin-Dalmore against Doveton.
