Burra showing signs of growth, progress

SEBASTOPOL coach Kiya Eberle says she is pleased with her side’s early progress, despite dropping out of the top six for the first time this season following a loss to powerhouse North Ballarat last Saturday.

The Burra overcame a slow start and eight-goal quarter time and half-time deficits to pull within three goals of the Roosters late in the third term, before the margin edged out to five goals at the final change of end.

Try as they might, the Burra could not get any closer, eventually falling by nine goals.

In a sign of clear-cut improvement from the Burra, it was the closest they had come to the Roosters in several seasons.

They did so without defender Taylor Finch in the line-up and with goal shooter Adut Manyiel at less than full health coming off an illness during the week.

With the final margin only one goal greater than at quarter time, Eberle said she was stoked with her players’ effort.

“We just let it (the margin) get out in the first and we couldn’t get it back; every other quarter we were happy with,” she said.

“We had some really good passages of play and played some really tough and strong netball,” she added in reference to the third quarter fightback.

“North brought it to the court as well, but we just couldn’t quite maintain it.

“I loved our defensive pressure; we tried a few things on court today.

“Also that rotation with Adut and Laura (Bell) gets better and better every week, so we are excited to see where that takes us.”

The Burra dropped to 3-4 ahead of a must-win away clash against Melton this Saturday.

Of the losses, which include a three-goal defeat to season 2025 grand finalist Sunbury in round 5, only in the Burra’s round 6 clash with reigning premier Darley were they well out of the contest.

Insisting that just one more win at this point of the season ‘would be nice’, Eberle felt the Burra were setting their season up nicely as they look to realise their aim of playing finals.

“We are actually really happy with where we are situated. We wanted to use this first half of the season to put everything on court and learn from it,” she said.

“We had a really close game with Sunbury and a really competitive game against North Ballarat.

“North are a tough talented team; they have high netball IQ and are undoubtedly one of the teams to beat.

“We were missing a few players against Darley, so we knew that would be tough, but overall we are happy with how we are playing and we’re excited to move into the second half of the season.

“I feel we are only going to get better.”

A sound effort against the Roosters was led by centre Tahlia Watts, who is enjoying a big season back in the midcourt, and defender Alice Kain, who played out the game with a finger injury.

Despite her interrupted preparation, Manyiel still shone with 36 goals at 85.71 per cent.