Sport
12 September, 2024
Roos to focus on its own game against 'physical' Demons | WFNL finals
Dimboola will also look to favour a slower pace of play in Murtoa.
WFNL Finals
Netball
For Roos coach Ash Morrish, the focus will be on playing their brand of netball against Horsham in the WFNL preliminary final on Sunday, September 15.
Dimboola defeated the Stawell Warriors by 11 goals to advance to the penultimate game of the season.
"We sometimes can get caught up in playing their game. While they're quite quick, whereas I think we need to slow it down," Morrish said.
This stems from their last meeting in round 13 when Dimboola trimmed the final margin to nine goals after it trailed by 14 at the last change.
"Last time we played, it might have been a bit wet, so it was a slower game, which worked in our favour, and it was quite close in the end," she said.
The Roos will be out to limit the impact of Horsham's defensive structure.
"Physicality is the biggest thing for the Demons," Morrish said.
"We'll be looking at meeting the balls and starting in front."
Morrish's side will also have to work through the Demons' pressure.
"They also have good arms on every pass. We've got to try and work it to find that open player in attack," she said.
The Demons will be out to rebound after its one-goal loss to the Horsham Saints in the second qualifying final.
It took a late comeback for the Saints to secure victory, as the Demons held a four-goal lead deep into the contest.
For Demons coach Ebonie Salter, the focus is running out the full game.
I think last week, what led us down was we played about 55 minutes of good netball, and the last five against the good teams can be our undoing," she said.
"We just know that we need to be concentrating and have our focus for the full 60 minutes [so that doesn't happen again]."
Salter sees Dimboola as a team that matches up well against her side.
"I think they've settled the combinations a bit more since we played them last, but they've got a few they can use. We need to be ready for whatever they throw at us," she said.
"We've grown a lot since we played them last, but the last time we did play them, it was a really tight tussle."
She also credited the Roos for their depth across the court.
"They've got height in the attacking ring, good aerial defenders [whichever combination they put], and they've got some really strong mid-courters that are quite fit," Salter said.
"We know that we're going to have to work really hard for every ball.
We've got a really good feeling in the group this year, and we've been working really hard. So, we just need to keep focused and block out all of the white noise; there's a lot of external noise at this time of year
Both clubs will be represented in other grades.
Dimboola will face Horsham Saints in C Reserve.
Horsham will play Stawell (13 and under and C Grade), Ararat (15 and under), and Warrack (17 and Under).
Horsham Saints will contest the B Grade preliminary final against the Warriors.