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<\/p>\n
“She’s obviously in that training environment already and they would have seen a lot of her and watch she can offer.<\/p>\n
“So we’re a little bit unsure what it all means and are playing it by ear at this stage.<\/p>\n
“If she does get that chance, we’ll no doubt be supportive.”<\/p>\n
With or without Sexton, as was the case against Falcons, the Strikers defence has not missed a beat in four games, conceding a league lowest 47.25 goals per game.<\/p>\n
Nexhip said the Strikers were fortunate to have plenty of depth at the defensive end of the court.<\/p>\n
“Adding Kristiana Manu’a to the mix and with Ruby Turner’s experience, getting to train as part of the Vixens Academy, we definitely have a lot of versatility back there, which is exciting, along with Dayna (Williams), who is stepping into the championship team,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s looking good back there.”<\/p>\n
Among six players to have made their Strikers championship debut this season, goal shooter Hayley Howard has emerged as one of the early success stories and will be keen to do well against her former club, after finishing runner-up in the Saints’ 23-and-under best and fairest last season.<\/p>\n
She is coming off a 40-goal performance, with just one miss, against Falcons.<\/p>\n
Having slotted in seamlessly alongside star goal attack Teal Hocking, Nexhip said Howard was going from strength to strength with each outing.<\/p>\n
“She is such a great, young, up-and-coming talent for us,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The Falcons game for me really stands out. Between her and Teal, they only missed three goals between them for the entire game.<\/p>\n
“I was super-impressed with that.<\/p>\n
“As midcourters, we are learning how to feed her a little bit more and that’s just going from strength to strength each game.<\/p>\n
“Some of her takes and the accuracy on her shots is something really powerful for us.<\/p>\n
“The more volume we can give her, the more she’ll reward us with that shooting percentage.”<\/p>\n
With the early foundations laid, Nexhip said it was important for the Strikers to capitalise on their hard early work in what has already proven to be a tight championship race, highlighted by three draws and four one-point margins across the first four rounds.<\/p>\n
First stop is against a Saints team, which drew its round 4 contest against Western Warriors and is handily placed at 2\u20131\u20131.<\/p>\n
“They’ve been involved in a couple of real close games and as we’ve seen the whole competition is really close,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think any of us are naive enough to go in thinking we are guaranteed a win.<\/p>\n
“It will be very important for us to have a good training week and look to have a little more consistency with our game plan and what we want to put out on court.<\/p>\n
“We’re definitely up for the challenge.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BENDIGO Strikers championship skipper Elle Nexhip (formerly McDonald) says she can feel the team growing in stature after getting away to a 3\u20131 start to the VNL season. Following a rare 18-day break between games since their watershed victory over City West Falcons to start the month, the Strikers return to action this Sunday against […]<\/p>\n