Shrugging off their shock, round one loss reigning Orange Netball Association Toyota Cup champions Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical roared back to form last weekend, the motivated Lions notching a 20-goal win over Orange Physiotherapy Vipers.
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Welcoming back a couple of out-and-out guns who didn't play in the opening round loss, including centre-court play-maker Tegan Dray, the Lions produced a rampant performance to ultimately win 49-29 in Saturday's rematch of last year's astonishing grand final.
That 2018 decider was far closer, Vipers fighting back from an 11-goal deficit in the third quarter to force it into extra-time, but Saturday was a different story as the Lions rolled to a comfortable victory on show court at Sir Neville Howse Stadium.
So comfortable, in fact, the 20-goal margin is the fourth-biggest defeat Vipers have suffered since entering the competition back in 2015 and the heaviest they've been handed since a 34-goal loss to Life Studio in that year's preliminary final.
The Lynne Middleton-coached Vipers drop to sixth thanks to the loss while Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical stay in fifth, where they sat heading into the clash too.
That's more proof of how tight this year's title race is set to be, as is the fact after last weekend's second round there's just one team that remains undefeated.
That's the Mardi Aplin-coached Life Studio.
After beating the reigning champions in round the navy and lime bibs backed that up with strong, 40-28 victory over the dangerous OHS Hornets on Saturday afternoon, shooting up the ladder as a result of their two consecutive victories.
They're now two points clear on top with the Hornets, Hawks Royals, Life Studio Mid West Eyes, Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical, Vipers and Life Studio Sportspower all deadlocked on competition points.
They are separated by percentage though and fill out second to seventh as a result, respectively.
Orange City Epiroc, winless through the opening two weeks, round out the table.
That mid-table congestion has come from round one losers Hawks Royal and Life Studio Sportspower also claiming their first wins of the season, over Orange City Epiroc (63-28) and Life Studio Mid West Eyes (69-53) respectively.
In the West Orange Motors Senior Competitions' lower divisions Byng St Beacons remain unbeaten in the division two Jeep Cup while CSU Aggies Black and Life Studio Carpe Diem are also undefeated in the division three Skoda Cup.
Orange City CW Brake & Clutch and Hawks Footrix Podiatry have picked up back-to-back division four Mitsubishi Cup wins as well, Red Backs and United Polpure have done the same in the division five Volkswagen Cup too.
The entire top four in the division six Fuso Cup are unbeaten.
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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.
