East Freo Sharks managed to slip away with a 59-50 goal victory over the firing Southside Demons in a tug-of-war style match in Round 11 of the Gold Industry Group West Australian Netball League.
The Demons looked unrecognisable from the first whistle as they came within their closet margin – nine goals this season.
The game was tight as it remained within a goal for majority of the match. Sharks seemed to find rhythm in the final term with Courtney Kruta making strong centre passes..
Larrissa Harrison was switched in front of goals for Sharks, shooting 45 from her 49 attempts. Sharks wing attack Jessica Repacholi was the source of on-target feeds into the circle, passing with accuracy and quality on par to Harrison’s shooting.
East Freo Sharks coach Sue Gerrard summed up her side’s performance in one word:” inconsistent”.
“I’d like more consistency from my players, I think they made some unforced errors early which allowed Demons into the game.” She said.
Gerrard sent them out for the final quarter with a message of slowing down and looking after the ball.
“Just to play our style of game and to look after the ball, keep possession, be calm out there, I thought we were trying to go a bit fast there for a little while.” Gerrard said.
The whole Demons side stood up the challenge from the Sharks. Caitlyn Paris and Brittany Turnbull displayed their strong chemistry in attack, while Latesha Wiki put her body on the line in defence.
Southside Demons coach Josie Janz-Dawson said she was happy and excited with her team’s performance.
“Obviously no one likes a loss, but for us we have been losing by a lot the whole season, so just to be in a position to challenge and compete was a turnaround for us." She said.
Janz-Dawson said they came into the game not focusing on one individual player but incorporating a structural game-plan from centre-pass to goal.
She said it was nice to see her side give out some competition and also work well as a team unit.
“I think everyone was just relaxed because usually we are down by 10 in the first quarter, so to actually be up and go ‘hey, we’ve got nothing to lose’.” She said.
“There is a lot of positive talk out there, I think that even with some of our defensive set-ups, it is about connecting to other players in the team.”
