General News
28 April, 2022
Saturday not so super for Magpies
CAMPERDOWN suffered its third loss of the season when it hosted Cobden on Saturday night, going down 11.9 (75) to 14.17 (101).
CAMPERDOWN suffered its second loss of the season when it hosted Cobden on Saturday night, going down 11.9 (75) to 14.17 (101).
It was a frustrating night for the Magpies, who fell behind early in the match and couldn’t ever quite claw their way back into contention.
The Camperdown back six saw a lot of traffic through the first half, with the Bombers converting a lot of forward entries to lead by 11 points at quarter time and 31 points at the half-time break.
Conversely, Camperdown, whose conversion rate was good through most of the night, missed some key opportunities in the second quarter, where they were outkicked four goals to one.
Forwards Sam Gordon (four goals), Tim Fitzgerald (two goals) and Isaac Stephens (one goal) provided good options, but the lack of forward push from centre clearances and stoppages restricted their opportunities.
Judah Dundon was again in the votes, as were Luke Molan, Isaac Stephens and Harry Sumner.
Magpies coach Neville Swayn said his side took many positives from the game despite the disappointing result.
“Our back six held up really well, all things considered, the way we brought the ball out was really clean and we went coast to coast a few times,” he said.
“Given the amount of forward entries we had our conversion rate was really good, leading up to the game we felt we could stretch them, sothat worked."
“We take a lot of positives from the game, it was just lapses in concentration, which allowed them to get hold of it through the middle, and that hurt us.”
Swayn said he and his side had taken a good look at the things that didn’t work for the team on the night.
“We reviewed the game pretty well, and we’ve got a lot of work to do around clearances and stoppages,” he said.
“Cobden were really good in those areas, and every time we got a goal and had the chance to put some pressure on they’d respond straight away.
“We’d get within striking range but then let them get going again. It felt like we were playing catch-up all night.”
This week’s game sees the Magpies travel to Portland for another night match, and Swayn knows the Tigers will provide another level of challenge again.
“They haven’t lost a game yet, and unfortunately it looks like we’ll have a few guys unavailable,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll have a couple back from injury. It’ll be a good challenge, the talk is it could be wet, so it’s hard to say."
“They’re tracking along pretty well, but we still feel that if we can iron out a few of the issues we had last week we’ll have a good chance.”
In other Hampden League games around the grounds, Warrnambool defeated North Warrnambool, Koroit beat Terang Mortlake by 173 points, South Warrnambool won at Port Fairy, and Portland defeated Hamilton.
Camperdown netball great Tracey Baker, who now lends her name to the division one league Best and Fairest medal, was honoured before the senior match.
Unfortunately the Magpies couldn’t celebrate the occasion with a win, losing to the Bombers 40-63.
Much like their footballing counterparts, the Camperdown netballers were competitive much of the match but were let down by their efforts through one quarter.
Only a handful of goals down at any stage through the first half, the Magpies went into the major break down 25-31.
However, a blistering third quarter effort by Cobden saw the Bombers lead by 16 goals at three-quarter time, and the visitors pressed their advantage through till the end to win by 23 goals.
Lily Eldridge, who scored 21 goals, was best on court for Camperdown, with Brooke Richardson and Laura Bourke also in the votes.
In other Hampden netball matches, Koroit beat Terang Mortlake at home, South Warrnambool defeated Port Fairy, Warrnambool held on for the win at home against North Warrnambool, and Portland won in Hamilton.
