	{"id":157927,"date":"2025-03-22T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=157927"},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:59:12","slug":"cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GEELONG Cougars are hoping to draw a big crowd when they come to Torquay for their one-off Victorian Netball League (VNL) fixture this Sunday, March 23.<\/p>\n<p>The championship-level team will be looking to continue their winning ways against Melbourne University in Round 2 after recording a 14-goal win over the Southern Saints last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Geelong Netball Club president Darren Hellmann explained why the Cougars would be playing at Wurdi Baierr Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really the only venue suitable for us as a home venue to host a VNL game. We&#8217;d rather play at a stadium in Geelong, but the lack of a suitable stadium necessitates us going to Wurdi Baierr in Torquay,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not ideal but it&#8217;s a good stadium and been good for us, so we just make the best of that opportunity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Cougars otherwise play most Wednesdays at the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>Hellmann is confident there will be a good turnout on Sunday, and invited the community to come along.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most of our athletes are local girls who have come up through Geelong football\/netball, which is why we get such great support from the local netball community because these girls have been in the system for a long time,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The netball will begin at 10.30am with a curtain-raiser exhibition match being played with the Geelong Flyers Junior Development Program.<\/p>\n<p>This will be followed by a match between the Cougars and Melbourne University development squads and the under-23s.<\/p>\n<p>The championship match starts at 3pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GEELONG Cougars are hoping to draw a big crowd when they come to Torquay for their one-off Victorian Netball League (VNL) fixture this Sunday, March 23. The championship-level team will be looking to continue their winning ways against Melbourne University in Round 2 after recording a 14-goal win over the Southern Saints last weekend. Geelong [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":157938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-157927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan Rivalland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan Rivalland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nathan Rivalland\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf7cb8dfe63a187785b4e65994914833\"},\"headline\":\"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":264,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Torquay's Daisy O'Kane (GS), pictured in 2023, shot 35 goals for Geelong Cougars in round 1. Photo: VINNIE VAN OORSCHOT\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/sport\\\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Surf Coast Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf7cb8dfe63a187785b4e65994914833\",\"name\":\"Nathan Rivalland\",\"description\":\"Nathan Rivalland is a journalist with the Times News Group. He covers community news, lifestyle and sport across the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Geelong.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/author\\\/nathanrivalland\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times","description":"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times","og_description":"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/","og_site_name":"Surf Coast Times","article_published_time":"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Nathan Rivalland","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nathan Rivalland","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/"},"author":{"name":"Nathan Rivalland","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7cb8dfe63a187785b4e65994914833"},"headline":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community","datePublished":"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/"},"wordCount":264,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png","articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/","name":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community - Surf Coast Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png","datePublished":"2025-03-21T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Join the Torquay netball community this Sunday, March 23, to support the Geelong Cougars in their VNL match against Melbourne University.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-2025-03-19T161509.595.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Torquay's Daisy O'Kane (GS), pictured in 2023, shot 35 goals for Geelong Cougars in round 1. Photo: VINNIE VAN OORSCHOT"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/sport\/cougars-appreciate-support-from-torquay-netball-community\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cougars appreciate support from Torquay netball community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","name":"Surf Coast Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization","name":"Surf Coast Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":350,"height":38,"caption":"Surf Coast Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7cb8dfe63a187785b4e65994914833","name":"Nathan Rivalland","description":"Nathan Rivalland is a journalist with the Times News Group. He covers community news, lifestyle and sport across the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Geelong.","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/author\/nathanrivalland\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157927"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=157927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}