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It was their 11th win from 13 games, with the Dragons’ only two blemishes this season against undefeated Kangaroo Flat.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Win, lose or draw, we are going to finish third,” she said.<\/p>\n
“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?<\/p>\n
“For either side, there is not a whole lot at stake, other than getting a bit of insight into each other.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“It would be nice, but going into a final 0-3 wouldn’t bother me to be honest,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It wouldn’t rock the girls. We know we haven’t played that well both times, but we haven’t had full teams either.<\/p>\n
“It’s just going to be nice having a strong hit-out before finals for all of our teams.”<\/p>\n
Gisborne will regain dual premiership-winning midcourter Emerson Lakey, after she missed last week’s 41-goal win over Strathfieldsaye.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs have been in outstanding form at the defensive end of the court in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They kept Golden Square to 19 the previous week and Eaglehawk to 18 a few weeks before that.<\/p>\n
Round 15 recap: Gisborne 58 defeated Strathfieldsaye 17; Kangaroo Flat 94 defeated Eaglehawk 28; Golden Square 28 lost to Sandhurst 81; South Bendigo bye.<\/p>\n
Round 16: Sandhurst v Gisborne; South Bendigo v Kangaroo Flat; Strathfieldsaye v Golden Square; Eaglehawk bye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n