NORTH Ballarat coach Annie McCartin says her side is ready to embrace the challenges in a tough five weeks of netball ahead.<\/p>\n
The Roosters, currently third on the ladder with an 8-3 record, will play four of the other five top six teams over the next five weeks, starting with Bacchus Marsh this weekend.<\/p>\n
That run of matches includes top-of-the-ladder Sunbury, Lake Wendouree (fourth) and Redan (fifth).<\/p>\n
The Roosters lost to both Sunbury and Redan in round one, but beat the Lakers by 15 goals at Mars Stadium in round seven.<\/p>\n
Having fallen as low as sixth on the ladder after losing to Darley in round eight, the Roosters have rebounded strongly on the back of three wins in a row, setting the scene for a tough month ahead.<\/p>\n
“When we meet these top teams, we are going to have to be on our game,” McCartin said.<\/p>\n
“These next five matches will really see where we are sitting at \u2013 whether we have improved or not.<\/p>\n
“I feel we have improved since we last took on Sunbury and Redan, and Lakers and Bacchus March are both very good teams.<\/p>\n
“You do have to be playing your best to these teams.<\/p>\n
“It will be very interesting to see how we stand up in the second half of the season.”<\/p>\n
While their sixth position earlier in the season was certainly rare territory for North Ballarat, McCartin was unfazed at the time.<\/p>\n
“In the end, there was only two points separating a couple sides, so it was bound to change, whoever won that week,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I wasn’t too concerned, but it has been a little while since we’d been down there on the ladder.<\/p>\n
“Let’s hope that’s the end of that.”<\/p>\n
McCartin was thrilled with the Roosters’ 39-goal win against Ballarat before the break, highlighted by an outstanding shooting performance from Maddy Selmon, who finished with 64 goals at 91 per cent accuracy.<\/p>\n
“Ballarat is rebuilding, but we had to make sure that in those first two quarters that we were getting on top of our game,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But I thought we eventually settled into our rhythm nicely.<\/p>\n
“The second half was really good.<\/p>\n
“Credit to Ballarat, they made us work very hard for the ball.<\/p>\n
“It was a real team effort.”<\/p>\n
The win capped a special day of milestones for Stacey Matthews and Alana Bodey, who respectively played their 150th and 100th games.<\/p>\n
Matthews was a contender for best on court honours in the midcourt.<\/p>\n
McCartin praised Selmon’s accuracy under the post in producing her season-high of 64 goals.<\/p>\n
“It was unbelievable shooting and she more or less does it every week,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Once she’s got that ball in her hands, you know something good is about to happen.”<\/p>\n
Particularly in view of Darley’s round 10 win over top-of-the-ladder Sunbury, McCartin said both the Lions and Devils would take some catching.<\/p>\n
“It was a good win by Darley \u2013 they are really firing at the moment \u2013 and very consistent,” she said.<\/p>\n
“When you have Olivia (Cawthray) up there in goal shooter to try and stop, it becomes very hard with her height and ability.<\/p>\n
“I hope we’ve improved since we’ve first played them, the same with Sunbury.<\/p>\n
“But we’ll just continue to take a few things out of each game and continue to work on things.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTH Ballarat coach Annie McCartin says her side is ready to embrace the challenges in a tough five weeks of netball ahead. The Roosters, currently third on the ladder with an 8-3 record, will play four of the other five top six teams over the next five weeks, starting with Bacchus Marsh this weekend. That […]<\/p>\n