Hawks grab top netball spot

COLTS goal attack Jacinta James about to add another goal to her tally.

Allan Reinikka AR--

BLUEBIRD Hawks were aiming for the minor premiership and at Jardine Park on Wednesday night that objective was achieved with a crushing 16-goal victory over Brothers Crimson.

Going into the game Brothers was on top of the Rockhampton A-grade netball ladder, but only by one point.

Now the two sides must prepare for next week's major semi-final with the winner of that match straight through to the grand final.

Bluebirds coach Barbara Ahmat said it was a close game up until the break.

“We are very happy as we didn't play at our best, but we are feeling good about the finals,” she said.

Brothers did change their tactics from previous meetings with Amee Brown moving out of the goal circle more often than she had done in their other encounters.

“I think towards the end, our shooters were allowed to move around more,” she said.

“They tried to double-defend Mo (Waasdorp) but you can't leave Kate (Kearney) as she needs a defender as well.”

Waasdorp has been tremendous for Bluebirds and the Claws this year and again showed her talent in collecting the Rockhampton Leagues Club (RLC) player of the day for her side with a shooting percentage in the mid-80s.

Brothers RLC player of the day was Kylie Solis who played much of the game at wing attack.

Ahmat said she made a couple of key changes for the second half and the Bluebirds pulled away to a convincing 57-41 victory.

“We moved Julie Dunbar to centre and she changed the game slightly,” Ahmat said.

She explained that Dunbar sat a little deeper in her central court role and that gave other players more room in which to operate.

While Bluebirds shooters recorded 79% overall success it was her team's defence which excited Ahmat.

“Mikaela King and Kym Marechal; I can't say enough about how well they are working together,” she said.

But still Ahmat promises Bluebirds will continue to improve.

“What I have said we have been working on is fast play through the court and we want to improve on that for the finals,” she said.

It was the highly competitive Colts team that turned up to play this week.

After suffering a number of upsets in the latter part of the season Colts produced a much stronger performance to dominate Frenchville and win by 55 to 30.

Ahmat, who umpired the match, said Colts were awesome and the display was far different to what they managed when losing to Angels last week.

“Colts were on fire, they certainly brought their game on Wednesday night,” she said.

Both teams had players missing with Kahlee Saunders not in the Colts line-up and Frenchville without Keanna Hopkins and Alysha Kuhl.

Colts shooter Jacinta James had a great game while Carmen Anderson took home the RHLC player of the day.

Alex O'Dea was best on court for Frenchville.

Young star Claudia Jones, who is ineligible for next Wednesday's rematch with Colts, played in the defensive circle in the first half but then moved to shooter as the Brumbies attempted to claw their way back to a respectable score line.

Capricorn Coast Marlins may have finished bottom but ended the season with a victory over Angels Titans. After beating Colts last week the Angels failed to recover from the loss of shooting star Juanita Puttman who left the court with an ankle injury in her team's one goal loss.

Final round

A-grade: Colts 55 d Frenchville Brumbies 30, Cap Coast Marlins 37 d Angels Titans 36, Bluebirds 57 d Brothers Crimson 41. Final standings: Bluebirds, Brothers Crimson, Colts, Frenchville, Angels, Cap Coast

Reserve grade: Bluebirds 39 d Frenchville 19, Magics 66 d Brothers 23, Angels 50 d Jets 23, Finalists: Bluebirds, Magic, Frenchville, Angels