Sport
29 August, 2022
Lexton’s powerful reminder ahead of big cat clash
Lexton swept aside Newstead on Sunday afternoon at Princes Park, delivering the most potent offensive performance of the season with 87 goals as they looked to mark themselves as a real premiership threat. The win was characterised by the work of...
Lexton swept aside Newstead on Sunday afternoon at Princes Park, delivering the most potent offensive performance of the season with 87 goals as they looked to mark themselves as a real premiership threat.
The win was characterised by the work of attacking tour de forces Rachel Phelan and Leesa Donhardt, with Phelan scoring 52 goals and Donhardt 35 in their victory.
A very fast start saw Lexton score 10 of the first 11 goals en route to a 21-7 quarter time lead, and there was simply no letting up from the Tigers in the second quarter as they scored another 22 goals to six to take a 43-13 lead into the main break.
Newstead enjoyed their best quarter of the day in the third period, scoring eight goals, but stopping the Tigers’ mid-court ball movement continued to prove to be a problem as they were able to continue to score at will, scoring another 21 goals to take a 64-21 lead at the final break.
Thanks to Phelan, who scored 18 goals in the final quarter, the Tigers were able to score 23 goals to finish the game really strongly, ensuring they would finish off as 59-goal victors, and making a real statement ahead of a juicy semi final match-up with Harcourt next Saturday afternoon.
Tigers coach Sarah Fisher was pleased that they could reverse recent trends of starting slowly and finishing strongly, with a dominant all-round performance.
“We had a great win. I was super-proud of them all — we went out firing, and that was our aim. We’ve had some slow starts in the past, so we wanted to come out super strong and I was really happy with that,” she said.
Fisher paid tribute to the performances of 2021 Nalder-Tracey Medallist Phelan and Donhardt, saying she was blessed to have attacking players of their calibre in Lexton’s lineup.
“We don’t just rely on one goal-shooter, we’re lucky enough to have two accurate goalies. Rachel shot so incredibly well — in that last quarter, she shot 18 goals, which is amazing. We’re very lucky to have her and Leesa in any situation,” she said.
There’s a lot of belief at Lexton that the Tigers can go all the way, and Sunday’s performance certainly didn’t hurt their cause. Fisher says there’s a lot of excitement against a Harcourt team that finished just above them on the ladder.
“We’re excited, but a little nervous against Harcourt. When we played them earlier in the season, they were a different side back then. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to the match-up. It will be a close, hard game, and it will come down to the last whistle, we think,” she said.
“We’ve all spoken about how even the competition is as a team. We think that all the top five sides could go either way. We are just excited to be there and playing our best netball as well. We are playing our best at the end of the season. We have just bonded so well — we’re not just teammates, we’re great friends. We can’t wait to go out there next week and see what happens.
“Finishing fifth isn’t stopping us. We believe in ourselves and we think we can go all the way.”