Finals dress rehearsal: Dragons, Bulldogs reignite rivalry

SANDHURST’S four-time premiership coach Tamara Gilchrist insists the Dragons and Gisborne have played each other often enough over the years for it to be business as usual in this Saturday’s clash at the QEO.

The two powerhouse clubs and regular finals rivals’ third minor round encounter looms as a full dress rehearsal for finals, with the Dragons and Bulldogs set to play each other again in the following Saturday’s qualifying final.

Gilchrist sees it as the perfect preparation for another exciting finals series for her playing group, comprised of mostly multiple premiership players from the club’s 2017-22 dynasty.

“Regardless of what the result is, it is going to be good to have a great contested game of netball leading into the first round of finals,” she said.

“We’ll have Gisborne again in that first week, so it’s a great opportunity for us.

“We’ll go and play it like we always do.

“We want to make sure we are doing everything we do well and see what it looks like.

“We have taken care of them the last two times, but neither of us have really been full strength.

“So this game on Saturday will be a real game of netball and should reflect who both sides really are, as we haven’t had that yet.”

Having reverted to their full list of players in recent weeks following absences due to Super Netball Reserves, VNL and personal commitments, the Dragons have returned to their free-scoring best.

Their 81-goal tally in last Saturday’s win over Golden Square was a season-high and followed 66 the previous week against Eaglehawk and 73 in round 12 versus South Bendigo.

The obvious exception was their total of 44, but a winning one at that, against Gisborne in round 13.

“I do love having a full team, but we are still getting everyone on the court; everyone’s getting at least half a game,” Gilchrist said.

“What happens come finals, who knows. But it is really nice being able to rotate players, give others an opportunity and even rest some players for a couple of moments.”

A slick and convincing performance in the 53-goal win over Golden Square was led by midcourter Meg Williams and goal keeper Sophie Shoebridge, albeit with Gilchrist ultra-pleased with every player’s contribution.

After leading by 11 goals at quarter-time, Sandhurst really put the foot down in the second, adding 24 goals to the Bulldogs’ five.

A similar scenario in the final term saw the Dragons post another 21 goals to Golden Square’s four in an 81-23 triumph.

 

It was their 11th win from 13 games, with the Dragons’ only two blemishes this season against undefeated Kangaroo Flat.

Gisborne dual premiership coach Tarryn Rymer said a pre-finals tune-up against their first-up opponent would give her girls both a chance to get another look at their rivals and to perhaps look at a few things.

“Win, lose or draw, we are going to finish third,” she said.

“But it comes down to, do we look at a few things, or do you let your players play it out and get a feel for it?

“For either side, there is not a whole lot at stake, other than getting a bit of insight into each other.

“There’s probably a bit of room for letting things run their course and also looking at things that could work if things go wrong.”

Having lost both of their earlier season contests to the Dragons, Rymer considered it advantageous to have at least one win over their rival under their belt going into finals.

“It would be nice, but going into a final 0-3 wouldn’t bother me to be honest,” she said.

“It wouldn’t rock the girls. We know we haven’t played that well both times, but we haven’t had full teams either.

“It’s just going to be nice having a strong hit-out before finals for all of our teams.”

Gisborne will regain dual premiership-winning midcourter Emerson Lakey, after she missed last week’s 41-goal win over Strathfieldsaye.

The Bulldogs have been in outstanding form at the defensive end of the court in recent weeks.

Kirby Elliott, Zoe Davies and Charlee Kemp were undoubtedly the Bulldogs’ top three performers last week, restricting the Storm to just 17 goals, including only one in the second quarter and four in the last.

They kept Golden Square to 19 the previous week and Eaglehawk to 18 a few weeks before that.

Round 15 recap: Gisborne 58 defeated Strathfieldsaye 17; Kangaroo Flat 94 defeated Eaglehawk 28; Golden Square 28 lost to Sandhurst 81; South Bendigo bye.

Round 16: Sandhurst v Gisborne; South Bendigo v Kangaroo Flat; Strathfieldsaye v Golden Square; Eaglehawk bye.