With an undefeated opening round of the Netball NSW Bing Lee West-Central West Regional League under its belt and knowing a touch more about its opposition, Orange Thunder coach Linda Macleod is hoping her side can build further in Sunday’s second round.
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But, by the same token, Macleod is well aware Bathurst, the Orange Lightning and Dubbo have seen the Thunder in action as well and is expecting three fired-up challengers at Sir Neville Howse Stadium as a result.
“Absolutely. (Bathurst coach) Michael Germach will have done his homework, so will have (Lightning) mentor Mikayla Riley and Dubbo’s coach too,” Macleod said.
“I think we will be a little bit more prepared having seen what the other sides can do but they’re in the same boat, they’ve seen a bit of what we can put on the court and we’re expecting another really tough day of netball this weekend.”
Granted, the Thunder group wasn’t entirely happy with its performance three weeks ago despite downing Bathurst 55-39, the Lightning 56-36 and Dubbo 81-34.
That’s not to say the Orange outfit didn’t play well, far from it in fact, Macleod just said she and her troops know they can get better in certain aspects of the game.
“Feeding from the circle edge and our communication in defence, they’re the two areas we really want to improve,” she explained.
“We felt like we fed the ball from outside the edge of the circle too much. Our one-on-one defence was great, but we didn’t communicate as well as we’d like as a group.
I think we will be a little bit more prepared having seen what the other sides can do.
- Orange Thunder coach Linda Macleod
“We’re having a bit of a training run [on Saturday afternoon] to try and tidy a few of those areas up before Sunday as well.”
The Thunder will be without Em Brisbane this weekend but welcome back Tash Rudd in her place, she missed the opening round after earning a spot thanks to her bumper Toyota Cup season in 2017.
“Em is a big loss, but Tash is coming back in and they’re both mid-courters. We definitely have the depth there I think,” Macleod said.
Sunday will be the Thunder’s final opportunity to stamp its authority before the finals on April 15, also at Sir Neville Howse Stadium.
“We’d certainly like to do that,” Macleod said.
“We all know finals are very different, anything can happen, so another good performance leading in would be great.”
The Thunder face Bathurst first-up on Sunday before encounters with the Lightning and Dubbo.
Games kick-off at 9am on Sunday morning, and run throughout the day.
- ORANGE THUNDER: Lucy Brisbane, Tegan Dray, Erin Johnstone, Emily Neal, Tash Rudd, Abby Tilburg, Danielle Turner, Erin Turner, Caitlyn Harvey
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.
