Roos, Dragons to renew intense rivalry

KANGAROO Flat midcourter Chelsea Sartori is expecting another showdown against fierce long-time rival Sandhurst to bring the best out of her teammates this Saturday.

The clash at the home of BFNL netball, the Queen Elizabeth Oval, will be the teams’ first since the 2025 grand final, which the Roos won by 8 goals.

After a long run of outs against their old foe, the Roos have now won their past five encounters against the Dragons, including the 2024 preliminary final and last year’s second semi and grand finals.

Having easily negotiated a rescheduled round 4 contest against Broadford at Marist College on Tuesday night to move to 4-0, Sartori said the Roos were eager to see what the latest instalment of their great rivalry with the Dragons would deliver.

“It’s always a big contest against Sandhurst – they are massive rivals of ours,” she said.

“We are excited to see where we are at.

“Obviously we won’t be at full-strength and neither will they,” Sartori added in refence to teammate Teal Hocking and the Dragons’ Ruby Turner, who will be missing due to SSN Reserves commitments.

“A grand final rematch … we’re always keen for a match like that.”

Hocking, a training partner with SSN club Melbourne Mavericks this season, is yet to make an appearance in green and white this season and is not expected back in the line-up until round 10 against Gisborne.

Other than her unavailability, it has been pretty smooth sailing for the Roos so far in their premiership defence.

“With the byes and things, it’s been a little hard to find consistency, but we’ve been tracking really well and have built some solid connections throughout the team,” the two-time Betty Thompson medallist said.

“We haven’t had many people come in and out, so that’s always handy.

“We’ve pretty much picked up where we left off to be honest.”

Sartori said a fresh-look for Sandhurst this year, with the inclusions of young guns Claire McGee and Harriet Whiteacre, and with Kelsey Ralph playing a more prominent role in the goal circle, would bring another dimension to the clash.

“They are all very good inclusions and all deserving of a go,” she said.

“Sandhurst have always been that team that has a bit of a mental edge over us, but we now just like to focus on ourselves, play our game and not worry about them too much.

“We do know they will be tough and we’ll definitely bring our A-grade game.

“Being the QEO is always exciting; it just feels like finals time every time you’re there.

“And we know they’ll be keen to change the outcome from last time.”

Despite a stop-start early part of the season, Sandhurst is yet to miss a beat.

The Dragons’ 3-0 start to their campaign was bolstered by a 72-47 win over Golden Square last weekend.

They previously defeated Eaglehawk 56-35 in round one and Broadford 99-28 in round two.

It’s the start of a tough block of matches for the Dragons that includes South Bendigo (currently on top of the ladder), Strathfieldsaye and fellow powerhouse Gisborne.

Elsewhere this Saturday, Eaglehawk will host Strathfieldsaye at Canterbury Park, and Castlemaine clashes with Gisborne at Camp Reserve.

The Storm will carry plenty of momentum into its encounter against the Hawks after scoring their first win of the season last week against Castlemaine.

They prevailed 61-25.

The Hawks are returning to action following a week off, having lost their Anzac Day clash against South Bendigo by six goals.

Gisborne (2-1) has not played since 18 April when the Bulldogs beat Strathfieldsaye 45-22.

Castlemaine is chasing its first win.

South Bendigo and Broadford played their round five game as a standalone contest to open the season on 28 March.