Lancaster refuses to lose while Shepparton East stays on track in Kyabram District League netball

Sitting third and knowing that top two sides Lancaster and Girgarre were squaring off out west, the Eagles were guaranteed to make up ground provided they could see off a Violet Town side that had started the year with such promise.

Did they ever follow through.

Contributors like Lauren James were pivotal in denying the stuttering Towners a winnable score as Maddison Newey’s prowess under the ring propelled the hosts to a vital 53-28 win.

Having never really given Violet Town a sniff, the side co-coached by Bianca Kelly and Kate Durling moved into second at Girgarre’s expense and snuffed out the visitor’s barnstorming start to the season by consigning it to a third straight defeat.

Durling was thrilled by the comprehensive manner of her side’s victory.

“I was surprised by the scoreline at the end,” Durling said.

“It probably doesn’t reflect what the game was like; it was surprising to me.

“It wasn’t that Violet Town did much wrong, but we just did everything right and it all clicked.

“Our best-on award went to Maddison Newey, who’s having an outstanding year. She’s getting better and better each week and she shot the majority of our goals.

“Tara Palmer played a really good game through the midcourt in her 250th game and she’s having another great year for us as well.”

Given three sides now sit at seven wins — albeit with Dookie four points behind due to administrative penalties — every result has plenty riding on it at the top.

With that in mind, there perhaps couldn’t be a better time for Shepparton East to run into winless bottom side Rushworth ahead of the league’s general bye the following weekend.

“We’ll use the Rushworth game to trial some different things and, perhaps, try and give some of the young ones some court time,” Durling said.

“We missed out on some percentage through a forfeit earlier this year, so we need to win and win well.

“The girls are going really well; they’re going from strength to strength every week, so I’m really happy.”

Mind you, there’s still a bit of chasing for the Eagles to do.

Lancaster, as mentioned, took on Girgarre in a meeting of two sides with powerful credentials, but the Wombats won out to move up to 9-0 courtesy of a comfortable 68-44 win.

Dookie took an even more straightforward route in claiming its seventh win, disposing of Longwood in a huge 78-35 victory.

Nagambie was able to snatch sixth spot and move to a positive win-loss record in the process by locking in a massive 49-18 win over a Tallygaroopna outfit that continues to sink.

Also advancing up the table was Stanhope, which put the most one-sided result of the weekend on the board in a thorough rout of Rushworth, winning 80-21.

Merrigum restored a sense of direction to its season in a heart-stopper, moving to 12 points by overcoming Avenel by the barest of margins and forcing the Swans out of finals positions in a 38-37 thriller.

The same fate came Murchison-Toolamba’s way, with a much-needed third win in the form of a 70-48 result over Undera that broke a long losing run for the Grasshoppers.