Giants chase third win on the trot

GEELONG West Giants will be chasing their third victory on the trot when they face eighth-ranked Bell Park away tomorrow (Saturday, May 24) in the GNL A Grade competition.

The Giants beat fellow top five side South Barwon 62-42 away in round 5 after leading 16-8 at quarter-time.

Coach Dale Smith said it was a strong four-quarter performance; something the side had been searching for.

“There were probably small periods where we got control and we were lucky some of our players just had really good games for the full four quarters,” he said.

The coach said the versatile Alahria Smith looked after the ball well and goal attack Rachel Palmer-Brennan put in her most consistent performance of the year.

Meanwhile, Australian under-19 captain Charli Hoey exerted influence as goal keeper in her second game of the season for the Giants.

Hoey also plays with Melbourne Mavericks’ reserves, and Smith she said would be more available to the Giants in the second half of the season when the Mavericks had finished.

Smith said the third-placed Giants, who have a 3-2 record, were probably where they thought they would be at this stage of the year.

He said the team was trying to boost its percentage after being stripped of their points by AFL Barwon in Round 1 due an administrative error on the player tracking sheet.

“So that’s why we’ve really focused now on making sure that we don’t take our foot off the pedal and are really playing games through the whole way.”

The Giants are waiting to get Nikita Handley back after she sustained a knee injury in pre-season.