Sport
23 May, 2025
Rats netballers buzzing with excitement
Netball is buzzing at Alexandra Oval with the Rats A-graders winning their second consecutive game, this time defeating the unbeaten Southern Mallee Thunder by nine goals on Saturday in round five of the Wimmera Football Netball League.
Entering the game with confidence and with Paige Biddle returning to bolster the defense and teaming up with sister, Faith, the Rats got off to a great start, taking a four-goal lead into quarter time.
In the second quarter, the Rats lifted their intensity with great drive through the midcourt from Monique Scott, Tash Noble and Jessica Taylor, and with Faith and Paige Biddle outstanding in defense and Maggie Astbury and Laney McLoughlan shooting well up forward, they extended the lead to eight goals at half time.
They came out of the main break and kept their intensity up, maintaining their advantage to lead by seven points at three-quarter time.
With the confidence high, the girls lifted again in the last and ran out the game strong towin 51-42.
Maggie Astbury scored 30 goals in goal attack while Laney McLoughlan played well with 21 goals as goal shooter.
It was, however, the defensive efforts on Steph Thomson and Emma Mill that went a long way to winning the game. They limited Thomson to 22 goals and Mill to 20 in a brilliant defensive effort.
Rats coach Sally Noble said that was the plan considering Thomson scored 42 goals the previous weekend.
“We aimed to hold her at bay and the girls did their job well and it paid off in the end,”Noble said.
“Tash Noble and Monique Scott were consistent throughout the whole game giving us good drive and it was great to see.
“Maggie’s accuracy is on point, and she is on fire at the moment, and it was a team effort and everyone played well.”
The scary thing is, despite winning two consecutive games, Noble said the connectivity isn’t there yet as they haven’t played together enough yet.
“I think with a couple more games we will get it right and be consistent and know what players do,” Noble said.
“Not having Paige for a couple of games we had to move the girls around a little bit trying to find their spots, and we weren’t sure she was coming back, but now that she has committed and everyone knows their position, we will start to get it right consistently.”
Noble said that the success of A-grade is lifting the club, citing the other wins from the weekend.
“Everyone is ecstatic at the moment and there is a good vibe,” Noble said.
“The B-grade won by two goals, the C-grade lost by one, the under-17s won by 59, under-15s by 40, it’s lifting the whole club seeing that on the scoreboard. It’s good.”
The Rats now face Minyip Murtoa at Murtoa Recreation Reserve tomorrow and Noble knows it will be a tough match even though the Burras haven’t won a game yet.
“I will be telling the girls not to get too excited because anything can happen,” Noble said.
“The Burras will be bringing all the resources out to get that win in front of their home crowd.
“It’s all about getting back to basics and what we know. Hopefully, we can hold them at bay and play our game we know and have been playing all season.”
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