Kangaroos building self-belief, says coach McLean

EAST Point believes its BFNL netball resurgence is on track after notching back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

Chasing their first finals appearance since 2022, the Kangaroos moved to 3-4 on the back of a 49-33 win over Ballarat at Alfredton Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

It was the perfect follow-up to a 40-goal win over Melton and has the Kangaroos within striking distance of the top-five, one win behind Redan (fifth) and Bacchus Marsh (sixth).

The Kangaroos have the opportunity to make a big statement this Saturday against Lake Wendouree at Eastern Oval.

One of the early season pacesetters, the 4-2-1 Lakers have slipped to fourth place on the ladder off the back of consecutive losses to top-placed Sunbury and perennial powerhouse North Ballarat and will be in search of a win to stabilise their season.

Rapt with their hard-fought win over Ballarat, first-year Kangaroos coach Kirsty McLean believed her side had taken some big strides through the first seven rounds.

“The girls have been rebuilding for a few years and now they have got the belief in themselves that they can actually do it,” McLean said.

“For me, it’s nice to see a lot of the young girls coming through now.

“I think we have really stepped things up this year.

“Our goal is to make finals and that is a realistic goal for these girls.”

McLean paid full credit to the Swans for a tough fight and hailed the win as a must in terms of their long-term aspirations.

“They are probably in a position East was a few years ago in having lost senior players and having to rebuild,” she said.

“They had a really good crack and there wasn’t a huge difference in the score.

“They have got a lot of good young talent and if they can hold onto them, they will just keep growing along the way.

“We really needed that one.

“Obviously we lost to Sunbury a couple of weeks ago, which was always going to be tough, and we lost to Bacchus Marsh, which was the one that got away.

 

“We took that loss on the chin and we learnt from it.

“Since then we’ve had some really good performances.”

Wing attack Maggie Harris was a standout performer for East Point, which got strong contributions at both ends of the court from goal keeper Stella Geljon and goal shooter Olivia Ashby, who topped all scorers on court with 44 goals.

The win was soured slightly by a calf injury to goal defence Abbey Wiltshire, who is expected to be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks.

It was the first time East Point had won back-to-back games in 12 months.

The Kangaroos beat the same two sides – Melton and Ballarat – in rounds 6 and 7 last year.

McLean said the Kangaroos would embrace their big test against Lake Wendouree and was confident the two sides would match up well.

Round 7 recap:

Sunbury 72 def Sebastopol 30;

Ballarat 33 lost to East Point 49;

Darley 38 def Redan 37;

Melton 38 lost to Bacchus Marsh 52; North Ballarat 63 def Lake Wendouree 48.

Round 8:

Bacchus Marsh v Sebastopol;

North Ballarat v Darley;

Melton v Sunbury;

Redan v Ballarat;

East Point v Lake Wendouree.