BY NATHAN DOLE
Big match on Golden Square’s court
GOLDEN Square and South Bendigo will eye a great chance to mark victory number two when they meet in Saturday’s eighth round of A-grade netball in the Bendigo Bank Bendigo FNL season.
A Golden Square team now being coached by Teigan Redwood will have home-court advantage at Wade Street’s Fur Life Oval against the Bloods.
The blue and gold lead the red and white by two percentage points.
Both teams had a rest last Saturday.
Golden Square’s lower grade teams played at Maryborough’s Princes Park, but the Magpies are not fielding an A-grade team.
It was a bye for South Bendigo which endured a daunting three match stretch against top teams Kangaroo Flat, Gisborne and Sandhurst.
Although it has just the one victory, 40-36 at Castlemaine in round three, Golden Square’s been a lot more competitive this season.
Increased work commitments meant Chris O’Sullivan stepped down as A-grade coach leading into the Ron Best Memorial Shield match against Sandhurst in the split sixth round.
The blue and gold worked hard against a slick Sandhurst team which claimed a 72-26 victory.
A multiple premiership winner in her time at Kangaroo Flat, Alicia McGlashan’s coaching debut with South Bendigo began with a 36-34 victory on Strathfieldsaye Storm’s Triple M Park court.
Since then the Bloods have been beaten by Castlemaine, 41-27 at Kennington’s Harry Trott Oval, and went down to the Roos, Bulldogs and Dragons by margins of 33, 27 and 50 goals.
The Bloods’ goalers are likely to have more scoring opportunities against Golden Square.
Strathfieldsaye is back home at Triple M Park in Tannery Lane to take on Sandhurst.
The Steph Freemantle-coached Storm had a tough hit-out on Gisborne’s court at Gardiner Reserve last Saturday.
Defences were on top for a lot of the contest which went 40-29 in favour of Gisborne.
A three-three record has Storm in fourth place in the premiership race.
After a two-goal loss to South Bendigo in round one, Storm hit back to win its next three games against Golden Square, Eaglehawk and Castlemaine.
A tough run for Strathfieldsaye nearing the halfway mark of the season has involved facing Kangaroo Flat, 31-59 loss at home, away to Gisborne, and now Sandhurst.
The Tamara Gilchrist-coached Sandhurst won last Saturday’s clash with Eaglehawk at Queen Elizabeth Oval by 39 goals.
A win-loss tally of 4-1 has the Dragons in third place.
Sandhurst started the season by winning on Kangaroo Flat’s court by seven goals.
A 38-42 loss to Gisborne at Queen Elizabeth Oval in round two was then followed by a two-week break.
The maroon and blue have won their past three matches by margins of 50, 46 and 39 goals.
It’s a challenging task for Castlemaine on its court at Camp Reserve against Gisborne.
These clubs met in last September’s preliminary final.
It was the Tarryn Rymer-coached Gisborne which won 46-39 and a week later captured the premiership cup.
This Saturday it will be the Chloe Hughes-coached Castlemaine determined to keep the heat on the Bulldogs line-up for as long as possible.
Last Saturday the Magpies played at Kangaroo Flat in the feature match of Indigenous Round.
The Roos won 86-33.
Gisborne is unbeaten in its quest for back-to-back premierships.
It’s a break for Eaglehawk in A-grade, but the Hawks will be on their courts at Canterbury Park to play Maryborough in the lower grades.
The ladder-leading Kangaroo Flat, which is coached by Jayden Cowling, has the bye.
Standings in the Bendigo FNL A-grade netball competition:
Kangaroo Flat 219 per cent, 20 points; Gisborne 158, 20; Sandhurst 187, 16; Strathfieldsaye 105, 12; Eaglehawk 66, 8; Castlemaine 66, 4; Golden Square 56, 4; South Bendigo 54, 4.