City West Falcons have pulled off an impressive feat with teams across all three VNL divisions qualifying for the finals. Head coach of the Championship side, Marg Lind, emphasised how proud she is of the club and their efforts after their Division 1 and Championship sides’ respective sluggish starts to the season.
“It’s definitely exciting and something that we aim for, it’s not exactly an easy target. It takes a lot of work, so we’re really pleased,” she said.
Coming off the back of two years impacted by COVID, returning to netball and the club’s rise up the ladder has been monumental.
“It’s extra special this year, we put a lot of work in throughout the lockdowns to keep players going and keep them engaged. When we first started the season we were probably a bit rusty to start with, but to see the teams put it together, it’s really exciting.”
Throughout the season the club has gone from strength to strength, with players like Zoe Davies elevated into Suncorp Super Netball squads and a handful of others representing Tonga and Samoa, highlighting the array of talent the club has at their disposal.
“I think the whole Victorian Netball League is about bringing out the best in people and players and that’s something that we’ve tried to do. I think we’ve been pretty successful with our Tongan and Samoan players representing their country.”
Lind is under no illusions heading into finals, recognising that coming up against ladder leaders Geelong Cougars will be no easy task. But her belief in her side is unwavering, backing in their hard work and processes to get the job done.
“We’ve done a lot of review to break opposition players down to show our athletes that they’re only up against another athlete, and it really just comes down to their mentality and approach, making sure that they’ve got strategies in place. I don’t think we’ve done that really well, employing strategies the last two times we’ve played Geelong,” she said.
“We were missing Jane Cook in both games, she started the second game but had an ankle injury so we took her off. It will be interesting to see how we go with Cookie there. We’ve also got our two Tongans and two Samoan girls coming back from World Qualifiers.”
With all three sides in finals, the main aim is to put out a strong and competitive performance in each division to ensure Lind’s Falcons give themselves the best chance to progress.
“We want to show that we are competitive and that we’re going to really take it to finals and do our best. It’s a massive goal for us but to put some icing on the cake would be great. We want to be known as competitive and just want to put it all out there.”
While the Falcons are trying to maintain the status quo, they have added more strategy and planning in the lead up to the finals to ensure they’re fully prepared for everything that will be thrown at them.
“We’re probably a bit more strategic this week, looking at what the opposition does, also looking at what our strengths are. We’re doing a lot of work leading into finals working on our agility, being a bit cleaner in defence, getting around the body and taking on the defenders. There’s a lot more variety and strategy across the board in the VNL in terms of defence which is really good to see, but I guess the secret recipe at the end of the day is hard work.”
Lind highlighted the family aspect associated with the Falcons, with all three divisions training together and the importance the Championship squad play as role models for the rest of the club.
“We’re a little bit unique as a club, we actually train all together. We don’t separate our teams at all. We’ve tried to create a culture where there is an expectation that our Championship and Division 1 players embrace the younger players to be role models and encourage them.
“I think because it’s fully embedded in our culture, our players have that expectation. Full credit to our open squad players, I think they’re fantastic with our younger players and they certainly role model them on and off the court.”
Despite the entire club making finals, plenty of players are yet to experience a finals campaign according to Lind.
“There’s a large percentage that have never had finals experience. We got the players that have had experience in finals to say one or two words about what they thought was important leading into a final. It was really interesting actually, there’s a lot of consistency in what they said, and I think it was good for the younger players to hear that and break down the nerves and the anxiety,” she said.
Tune in via Kayo or Netball Victoria’s Facebook page to watch the Falcons hit the court.
Fixture:
Championship: Geelong Cougars v. City West Falcons 8.40pm
Division 1: Geelong Cougars v. City West Falcons 7pm
19/Under: Melbourne University Lightning v. City West Falcons 7pm
