Even though she’s chuffed to see a second two blues side in Orange Netball Association’s top division, Hawks Royal player-coach Amanda Hurford admits she and her side won’t be taking it easy in Saturday’s Toyota Cup derby.
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The last time Hawks had two division one sides was 2015, but the now named Hawks Central Fitness moved back into the top division this season after finishing second in division two last year.
The two sides face-off on Saturday, in the first all-Hawks derby of 2017.
“It’s great, obviously wearing the club president hat too I’m really happy to see Hawks with two sides in the top division again,” Hurford said.
“Hawks Central Fitness are a really strong team so it won’t be easy and it’s nice to have the rivalry back for us.”
Hurford’s side is coming off a nail-biting 45-44 loss to Orange City in last weekend’s grand final rematch, but she said that’s the kind of performance a side can take plenty out of.
“We definitely can, I was really, really pleased with how everyone played against Orange City,” Hurford enthused.
“It was even for a lot of the game and we stayed in it until the end, so there’s a lot of positives to take from it.”
While Hawks Royal’s strength remains in its attacking third, despite losing gun shooter Kristin Zinga to Orange City, Hurford said Central Fitness’ danger area is their defensive unit.
That makes for a mouth-watering battle at that end of the court.
“Hawks Central Fitness’ defensive end has been working really hard down there and doing a great job,” Hurford explained.
“I know they’ve been working hard on the way they move the ball out of that end too, so we’ll need to try and shut that down.
“Alice Maier is still in that attacking end and we’ve added her younger sister Annalise too, who has done a great job so far this year.
“Danielle Turner is back too after a year off, so we’ve got plenty of strength down that end.”
The Hawks derby starts at 2.30pm at Sir Neville Howse Stadium, as does Kinross’ clash with Orange City Newey’s Drive-Thru Cleaners.
Life Studio takes on clubmates Life Studio Mid West Eyes from 1.10pm. Orange City plays Vipers in a top of the table clash at 3.50pm.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
