General News
3 May, 2022
Bombers on the charge
COBDEN climbed to third on the Hampden Netball League (HNL) ladder after a dominant 65-32 win at home against Port Fairy on the weekend.
COBDEN climbed to third on the Hampden Netball League (HNL) ladder after a dominant 65-32 win at home against Port Fairy on the weekend.
The home side got away to a strong start, holding Port Fairy goalless in the first half of the first quarter to take a quarter-time lead of 16 goals to seven.
The Bombers’ second period was just as convincing, and despite goalshooter Emily Finch retiring injured towards the end of the half Cobden went into the half-time break up 35-18.
Finch’s replacement, junior Grace Taylor, held her own through the second half, supporting goal attack Molly Hutt to keep the pressure on Port Fairy till the end.
Hutt, provided with plenty of opportunities by the back-court’s strong defensive efforts, shot over 90 per cent in the second half to score 25 goals, earning herself Bombers’ coach Sophie Hinkley’s nomination as best on court forher side.
Hinkley praised her players’ efforts all across the court, saying the win was a great example of a consistent group effort.
“We were really happy with the consistent margin we had across the game,” she said.
“We started really strongly defensively, and the goalies did the work to capitalise on the turnovers and give us that percentage boost by the end of the game.
“It was impressive to get over 60 goals again, that’s what we aim for in a convincing win.”
Hinkley said her side recovered well after the loss of such an important player as Finch.
“Emily went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter, and she was really on fire at goal shooter, so I was looking forward to seeing how many goals she could convert for us,” she said.
“Grace Taylor did an awesome job, and we were still able to maintain the same level of scoring in the second half as we did when Emily was on court.
“I thought that was impressive, for Grace to pick up that load.”
Hinkley said her side was starting to show its flexibility and adaptability, demonstrated by the changes she was able to make mid-game.
“We have lots of options, so we rotated through some different combinations and structures,”she said.
“It was really good to see all of those work well to maintain that margin across the game.
“No matter what combination we had across the court, it was working, which is probably the thing we’re most keen to see.”
That adaptability will be tested in a fortnight when the Bombers travel to Koroit, and Hinkley is looking forward to seeing what her squadcan do.
“Koroit’s always hard to beat, and while they’ve got a couple of experienced players out with injuries, we’d prefer to play them at full strength,” she said.
“It’s important for us to see all of our opposition, but they’ll still have Nell Mitchell in goal shooter, who’s always someone that’s difficult to match up on.
“But I think, after the work we’ve been doing as a defensive team we have the flexibility to negate what she’s able to do.”
Hinkley said the match will be a battle between two very athletic sides.
“They’re really strong, youthful and fit across the whole court, but I think our girls are fit, for sure,” she said.
“For us, it’s about using our fitness to the best of our ability. Sometimes we can run a bit too much, so maturity’s the thing we’ll need to concentrate on.
“We get good opportunities at the ball, so we need to make sure we honour the work that our defence does for us.”
In other HNL games last weekend Warrnambool defeated Terang Mortlake by two points, North Warrnambool beat Hamilton, and Camperdown won away in Portland.