{"id":124183,"date":"2026-07-17T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=124183"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:44:08","slug":"nice-to-know-we-are-a-threat-swans-still-thinking-long-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/nice-to-know-we-are-a-threat-swans-still-thinking-long-term\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Nice to know we are a threat&#8217;: Swans still thinking long term"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT co-coaches Lisa Palmer and Jane Keating are confident the Swans can make their presence felt in finals \u2013 if they get that far.<\/p>\n<p>The Swans, currently sixth on the BFNL A-grade netball ladder at 5-6-1 (22 points), missed a chance to pull six points clear of Bacchus Marsh after suffering a two-goal loss to Sebastopol at Marty Busch Reserve last Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>An agonizing defeat also denied the Swans the chance to level up with Sebastopol on 26 points, with the Burra (7-4-1) jumping to 30 points to give themselves some breathing space.<\/p>\n<p>If the Swans, this year&#8217;s feel-good story after going winless last season, do miss out on finals, they will likely have themselves to blame following a batch of close losses from winnable positions.<\/p>\n<p>They led Sebastopol by four goals late in the second quarter last Saturday and trailed by a lone goal at three-quarter-time.<\/p>\n<p>In round 10, the Swans trailed then top-of-the-ladder North Ballarat by just two goals with about four minutes to play at Alfredton, eventually going down by nine.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/07\/DSC_0874_79104.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"623\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eager goalers Dakota Blade and Ava Richardson almost collide in their desperation to lift the Swans. Photo: Kieran Iles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A week earlier they came within three goals of reigning premier Darley, seven days after holding on for a four-goal win over Sunbury, while an eight-goal loss to Bacchus Marsh in round 7 was one that got away.<\/p>\n<p>As tough as those losses were, the mere fact Ballarat is being mentioned in the same breath as Darley, North Ballarat and Sunbury in particular is a testament to how far the Swans have come this season.<\/p>\n<p>Putting the Sebastopol loss into perspective, the co-coaches said the Swans were made to pay for some costly unforced errors, particularly late in the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are winning plenty of ball, but we are just not capitalising on how much ball we are winning,&#8221; Palmer said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That will come with time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They (Sebastopol) went in with an aggressive game,&#8221; Keating continued.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was a lot of pressure from them on every single pass.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Added Palmer: &#8220;When we use the ball speed and our options, the game opens up for us.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/07\/DSC_0963_79769.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Finn Mckeagney-Stubbs turns defence into attack for Ballarat against Sebastopol. Photo: Kieran Iles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we get into body on body, it doesn&#8217;t always work in our favour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our connections are growing each game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are winning lots of ball; that&#8217;s the most pleasing part.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now we just need to make sure we score every time we do turn over the ball.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With six games remaining, Ballarat will play three teams below them on the ladder \u2013 Melton, East Point and Redan \u2013 through rounds 14 to 16.<\/p>\n<p>The remainder of the schedule includes Lake Wendouree this weekend and Darley and Sunbury in rounds 17 and 18.<\/p>\n<p>Their main opposition for sixth spot, Bacchus Marsh&#8217;s remaining schedule includes Darley, Sunbury, Redan, East Point, Sebastopol and Lake Wendouree.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/07\/DSC_0130_80275.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"789\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eliza Burge is enjoying a fantastic season in defence for Ballarat. Photo: Kieran Iles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Cobras went 2-4 in those games earlier in the season, while the Swans were 4-1-1 against their remaining opponents.<\/p>\n<p>While a drought-breaking finals berth would be a rich reward for a season of plenty of gains for the Swans, Palmer and Keating are focusing long-term.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If this year isn&#8217;t our year, next year is going to be a ripper,&#8221; Keating said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we are building towards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s always been our plan \u2013 to build for the future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The girls will take a lot out of a game like today.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just nice to know we are a threat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Swans team on Saturday had an average age of barely 20, with wing attack Ella Shannon the oldest at 25.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/07\/DSC_0050_09018.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"392\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ella Shannon was a standout for the Swans in wing attack. Photo: Kieran Iles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Like Sebastopol with its goal keeper Alice Kain, defender Finn Mckeagney-Stubbs was on restricted time for the Swans due to VNL commitments the following day.<\/p>\n<p>In a performance bolstered by widespread contributions, Shannon led the way for the Swans with her work rate and pass selection, while young goal attack Ava Richardson stood tall against a quality Burra defence.<\/p>\n<p>With the same eight players who took the court against the Burra available for the game against the Lakers, Palmer said their conversion from centre pass would be an area of focus for the Swans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And converting our turnovers,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We really need to treasure the ball.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our defenders got us heaps of ball; we just didn&#8217;t capitalise (against Sebastopol).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When they last met on Anzac Day, the Swans and Lakers played out a thrilling draw at Alfredton in a game that most will look back on as kick-starting Ballarat&#8217;s netball resurgence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BALLARAT co-coaches Lisa Palmer and Jane Keating are confident the Swans can make their presence felt in finals \u2013 if they get that far. The Swans, currently sixth on the BFNL A-grade netball ladder at 5-6-1 (22 points), missed a chance to pull six points clear of Bacchus Marsh after suffering a two-goal loss to [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/nice-to-know-we-are-a-threat-swans-still-thinking-long-term\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":124189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_section_post":"right_list","home_featured_section_post":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-124183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Nice to know we are a threat&#039;: Swans still thinking long term - 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