Seas look to improve on narrow Round 1 win

ANGLESEA are eager to build on their thrilling start to the Bellarine Netball League’s A grade season.

The Seas take on 2024 grand finalists Geelong Amateur in Round 2 at Queens Park Reserve tomorrow (Saturday, April 12) at 1.45pm.

Coach Izzy Bartlett said it would be a tough game and her group needed need to pick-up on its full- court defence.

The Seas came from one goal down at three-quarter-time to beat Drysdale 53-52 in their season opener.

Goal shooter Jess Croker netted 32 goals while gun recruit and captain Ariana Luamanu hit 21 from goal attack.

Luamanu debuted for Samoa in 2016 at 14 years old and went on to play at the Netball World Cup in 2019.

“She had a phenomenal game, it was great to see her back on court after a year and a half off… her ability to drive the ball down the court as well as her defensive pressure is immense,” Bartlett said.

The coach said she and Luamanu were long-time friends.

“When I took on the role of head coach she was the first person I contacted, the first one I wanted.”

“I know how incredible she is as a player but also as a teammate.”

Fellow recruit Lulu Higgins “had a blinder” in defence while highly-touted junior Scarlotte Benney made her A grade debut at age 15.

“She crushed it, in the crucial moments she was the one who stepped up and got the intercepts or the tips that we needed,” Bartlett said of Benney, whose mother is a life member at the Seas.

Anglesea finished sixth last year with seven wins and 11 losses.