General News
10 July, 2019
Tiger enjoying return to Mininera netball
WOORNDOO Mortlake netballer Nicole Anderson is starting to find her feet after returning from pregnancy this season.
WOORNDOO Mortlake netballer Nicole Anderson is starting to find her feet after returning from pregnancy this season.
The 25 year-old, who was unavailable for last year’s premiership victory, returned to the court in round four after missing the opening three games.
Anderson said it was tough sitting out in the early rounds but said she was now starting to feel comfortable back in the action having played the last eight matches.
“I had a baby in February so I missed the first three games and slowly worked my way back but I feel I’m getting back to where I should be,” she said.
“I missed out on the grand final last year because of pregnancy so I was very keen to get back this year.
“The first three games the girls won considerably which helped (watching) but I was definitely getting itchy feet to get back on court.”
The Tigers will be looking to make amends this Saturday when they face SMW Rovers having lost their most recent match to Glenthompson Dunkeld.
In a top of the table battle, the Tigers were outclassed by the Rams, with Anderson conceding they were now the team to beat this year.
She said her side, which was missing three key players, was disappointed with its performance in that clash.
“They’re definitely a tough team to beat and we’re going to have to look out for them come finals,” Anderson said.
“They just read each other really well and their defence of the mid-court was what got us.
“They picked off stray balls everywhere and then worked the ring well and once they had the ball it was really hard to stop them.”
Anderson said the loss to the Rams had given the Tigers several improvement areas, mainly through the mid-court, for their clash with the Bulldogs.
She said her side wanted to return to winning form quickly in a bid to get their season back on track, which she said will be helped by the pending returns of Emma Smith, Kate Jubb and Renae Reynolds.
“I think we’ve got a lot that we can work on particularly through the mid-court and getting it into the ring, I think that was our downfall last time (against the Rams),” Anderson said.
“And it’s our last week with a mix-up team, we have three girls to come back in, so we should get our (full) team back in soon and then hopefully we can get on track from there.”