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“We’ve come from cellar dwellers to being competitive against those good teams and that’s great for us.”<\/p>\n
With two wins, a draw and three narrow losses to Darley, Sebastopol and North Ballarat from their last six contests, you would have to go back to their round 7 loss against Bacchus Marsh to find evidence of a genuinely disappointing effort by the Swans.<\/p>\n
For the second straight week, Ella Shannon \u2013 this time alternating between centre and wing attack \u2013 was the driving force for the Swans, helping keep them focused when the chips were down in the third term.<\/p>\n
A feather in the cap of the Ballarat league is its rich stocks of talented, young shooters.<\/p>\n
There were plenty on show in this game, with Dakota Blade in scintillating touch with 38 goals at nearly 90 per cent accuracy for the Swans, well aided by one of the youngest of the bunch, workhorse Ava Verrier.<\/p>\n
At the other end, Ebony Porter (23 goals at 83 per cent) and Addi Funcke (28 at 88 per cent) continued the form that has kept the Lakers in the top three for the bulk of the season.<\/p>\n
Palmer gave full credit to Lake Wendouree for a tremendous fightback.<\/p>\n
“They are clearly a quality team and third for a good reason,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Their shooters are amazing and obviously Sadie Cheesman is quality.<\/p>\n
“To get draws against them is a plus, as disappointing as missing out on a win is.”<\/p>\n
In a quirk of fate, should the home and away season finish tomorrow, the Lakers and Swans would be drawn to play each other in the first week of finals.<\/p>\n
That scenario is still very much a reality.<\/p>\n
It’s the oldest cliche in sports, but from here out for the Swans, it really is a case of ‘one week at a time’ for the Swans as they aim to break their finals drought.<\/p>\n
That starts this weekend against an improving Melton, which finished within six goals of the Lakers two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
“(Saturday) felt like the one that got away, but the netball gods had a different verdict,” Palmer said.<\/p>\n
“But we can still determine our own fate and we need to use that as motivation to win as many games as possible for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n
“The great thing for us is we have a lot of girls who want to come back next season, so we’re building something nice.”<\/p>\n
Round 13 scores: Melton lost to Sunbury 34\u201364; Bacchus Marsh lost to Darley 33\u201368; Lake Wendouree drew with Ballarat 51\u201351; Redan lost to Sebastopol 41\u201344; East Point lost to North Ballarat 22\u201351.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IF Ballarat’s fairytale netball resurgence in 2026 happens to fall short of a BFNL finals appearance, the Swans will be able to look back on the exact moment that cost them. For the second time this season last Saturday, the Swans had to settle for a draw against certain premiership contender Lake Wendouree. While the […]<\/p>\n