Sport
11 September, 2023
Avoca one win away from netball redemption with powerful win over Lexton
An immensely powerful second half barrage has seen Avoca into the grand final, and a 2019 rematch with Carisbrook, thanks to a 26-goal win over Lexton. There wasn’t much of an indication that it would end up being such a dominant win, particularly...
An immensely powerful second half barrage has seen Avoca into the grand final, and a 2019 rematch with Carisbrook, thanks to a 26-goal win over Lexton.
There wasn’t much of an indication that it would end up being such a dominant win, particularly for much of the first half.
Instead, it was Lexton doing all the running in the early stages, scoring 15 goals, with Rachel Phelan busy around the goal ring, scoring 10 goals, while Leesa Donhardt added five. Avoca kept in touch by scoring 12 goals, with Maddy Egan scoring eight goals and Gina Beavis four.
Lexton started the second quarter well, and were keeping their noses in front, but towards the back end of the quarter, the momentum of the game shifted.
Bulldog defenders Caitlin Drummond and Keisha Tonzing were starting to get their hands on a few intercepts, and inspired the Bulldogs as they were able to take command by scoring the last three goals of the quarter, which fired playing-coach Egan up.
Egan scored five goals for the quarter, while Beavis added 10, while for Lexton, Phelan added seven goals, and Donhardt three.
Avoca took the momentum into the third quarter and dominated play, with Stacey Blair and Lucy Howell in particular inspiring the Bulldogs by seemingly hitting the spot with every single long ball to Egan, while at the other end, Tonzing and Drummond were doing a great job in forcing Phelan, Donhardt and Shenae Haintz in taking longer shots.
The result saw Avoca score 21 goals to eight to turn a three-goal half time lead into a 16-goal three-quarter-time break.
It was much of the same around the last quarter, with Avoca scoring 20 goals, with Egan adding 16 for a personal tally of 44, while Beavis added four more.
Lexton finished off with nine goals, with Phelan scoring three and Donhardt six.
The day belonged to Avoca, however, and Egan was thrilled with the application of her charges in the second half.
“We’ve had bad first quarters all season, so we weren’t panicking too much, but the defenders were a bit down as they weren’t stopping Lexton early, and I had to keep telling them when they get one intercept, they’ll get more, and they got their heads up, got a run on and it started happening,” she said.
Egan was in awe of Drummond and Tonzing’s performance, as they took away Lexton’s first half strengths of being able to generate good scoring opportunities in the goal circle.
“Keisha and Caitlin had to keep working, and once they got the game on their terms, they took advantage of it. The pressure that Elisa Pica and Lucy Howell had up front as well really helped us force longer shots from Lexton. Credit to them, Rach and Leesa have shot really well all season long, and they did that in the first half,” she said.
Egan was also inspired by the performances of midcourters Blair, Pica and Howell, who took command in the third term.
“I keep shaking my head at Stacey Blair and Howell when they throw long balls and they still do it. I just have to take it, I guess, but luckily, we’ve had that connection for six years, and they have faith in me, and I have faith in them that they’re able to make that right pass,” she said.
“Elisa is very clean when she defends, she is very quick, she gets her body out of the way but she also gets her hands on it.”
With all of Avoca’s three senior teams into the decider, Egan says there is plenty of options the club can take going into grand final day.
“We have a strong group of girls. We all train together and play together on the court at training. It’s great to get them all into the three deciders, they have worked very hard and done everything I’ve asked them to — especially B grade, who essentially had to play another quarter yesterday and came off exhausted,” she said.
“We largely have a full bill of health.”
In particular, the challenge for the Bulldogs will be to overhaul Carisbrook, a team that hasn’t lost at all this year — however, they have also been the only team to take points off the Redbacks, courtesy of a round seven draw.
“We are pumped. We’ve found our form in the second half of the season, particularly over the last few weeks. It will be a big game, a good game, and one that will be hotly contested,” Egan said.
Egan says winning flags would cap off Avoca’s 150th year in the best possible way.
“It would be amazing to cap off the 150th year with at least a flag. Three would be awesome,” she said.