A Cap of Last Week’s Results
Koroit had a comfortable 35 goal win over Port Fairy. Nell Mitchell was outstanding in the circle scoring 56 of Koroit’s goals and Emily Forrest was the best for the Seagulls in her 150th Open game.
Portland defeated Terang Mortlake by 10 goals. Madeline Stone was the best for the Tigers while Jacqui Arundell had a great game in attack for the Bloods.
Camperdown were very competitive in their clash with Warrnambool. After being 9 goals down at ¾ time they came home strong but Warrnambool were able to hold on to take a 2 goal win. Lily Eldridge and Mary Place put in strong performances for the Magpies and Jessica Thwaites was best for the Blues.
Alicia Blain was instrumental through the Centre Court when Cobden defeated the Hamilton Kangaroos 51 – 32. Emily Finch top scored with 35 goals for the Bombers and the Somerville sisters had a great game for the Kangaroos.
In the game of the round, South Warrnambool came away with a 7 goal win over North Warrnambool. The Eagles were forced to make changes when Jordyn Billings was subbed off in the second quarter with a serious knee injury. To their credit they adjusted well, but the Roosters held on to take a solid win at the final siren.
Maskell Medal/Dot Jenkins Medal
The Maskell Medal/Dot Jenkins Medal Day will be presented in a different format this year. As part of a new initiative in 2022, all Member Clubs will have the opportunity to host their own Club Function. The HFNL in conjunction with Fitzmedia, will conduct the Best and Fairest counts at Silverball Studios and do live crosses to each Club throughout the afternoon for interviews with the Award Winners. This will be a great opportunity for Clubs to boost their revenue after a couple of very tough years.
As we cast our thoughts to the Best and Fairest awards who will take out the top honours in the Open Netball for the Dot Jenkins Medal? History will tell you that it’s difficult to win if your team is sitting at the lower end of the ladder but Lily Eldridge from Camperdown and Heidi Jones from Portland have both had very consistent seasons. Annie Blackburn and Carly Watson have both had great seasons and South Warrnambool have won most of their games. Remeny McCann has had some standout performances and Alicia Blain has had a good year for Cobden. From North Warrnambool Skye Billings has had an outstanding season and Maddison Vardy has been very consistent. Koroit have had many games where it’s been a team effort and will share a lot of votes but I think Millie Jennings will poll well for the Saints and Amy Wormald has been dominant in attack for Warrnambool so should also poll well.
My Predictions for this Week
South Warrnambool should have a comfortable win when they take on Terang Mortlake at Ridley’s Rec Reserve.
Koroit make the trip to Hanlon Park to play Portland. This will be a good contest for Koroit leading into finals and will gain valuable points here.
Hamilton Kangaroos host Camperdown at Melville Oval. We have seen big improvements from both these teams during the season and I see this game as being fairly evenly matched. I think Camperdown may score a narrow win.
Port Fairy are still looking for their first win but Warrnambool will be too strong when they take on the Seagulls this week. The Blues should get the win here.
North Warrnambool and Cobden will do battle at Bushfield. This will be another classic contest and the Eagles need to get the win to give themselves a second chance come finals. Cobden have been in good form leading into finals and will be hard to stop. I think Cobden will come out on top just.
Good Luck to all the Junior Teams competing in the Preliminary Finals on Sunday and best of luck to everyone else participating in both football and netball this weekend.
Author: Josie Logan