Half of the Murray Netball League’s eighth round for 2024 is in the books, but there’s plenty of action awaiting on Saturday.
Already, we saw the season’s second draw as Numurkah and Barooga finished evenly poised at 32-32, handing the Hawks their first points for the year.
The undefeated Rumbalara girls continue to lead the way in the A-grade competition, but Moama firmly turned up the pressure by dispatching Congupna with ease in a 29-goal win.
Finally, Mulwala fell to its third straight defeat in a heartbreaker as Nathalia followed Moama’s lead in moving to six wins by scraping out a 39-38 victory.
On Saturday, a clash occurs in that same region of the table that could drastically shift things around in a finals context as third meets fifth.
Tongala (6-1) has a challenge ahead, but could make significant strides in shooting for the top when it meets Finley (5-2) in the weekend’s top fixture.
Though the Blues aim to maintain pressure on Rumbalara like so many others, their meeting with the Shepparton-based outfit ended fruitless three weeks ago in their only blemish to date.
A comfortable victory over Cobram set things back on the right track, but Tongala would likely prefer said border side to rebound strongly given its meeting with Rumbalara at the weekend.
As for the visitors, a middling opening month that featured meetings with some tough contenders has given way to three straight wins.
Though Finley’s winning run has included three sides currently in the bottom four — teams they would have been expected to beat from the off — Milly Op’t Hoog’s side is undoubtedly back in form.
Reigning premiers or not, Tongala coach Grace Hammond will be wary.
“(Finley has) been in the back of our minds knowing that they’ve got a few girls back this year,” Hammond said.
“They might not have been the strongest the last few years, but they’re in a position to really take it up to some top sides.
“I back my girls, though, and if we can stick to our brand, it should be a good game. We’re looking forward to it.”
Both sides are refreshed, of course, benefitting from the time off last weekend.
Hammond says the chance to reset popped up at a fortuitous moment.
“I think the split round weekend was something we needed, especially with having VNL on as well,” Hammond said.
“The week off came at a good time for us to regroup and get things right for this weekend.
“Against Cobram, we went back to the basics of how we play after the Rumba game, but meeting Rumba when we did was a good moment to see where we’re at and what we need to push them.
“We go into every game playing like it’s a grand final, but just because of our success last year, that doesn’t mean other teams haven’t changed the way they go about it.
“Having some early success under our belts this year is good for confidence and we’ll come out firing from the first whistle.”
As alluded to earlier, Cobram (2-1-4) has the unenviable task of attempting to stop Rumbalara (7-0) in its tracks on the courts of Scott Oval after the Tigers dropped their past two games coming in.
Completing the split round before the full schedule returns next weekend, Deniliquin (4-3) could go a long way towards insulating the top six from potential challengers if it can knock over Echuca United (1-1-5).
If Rumbalara and the Rams win, the gap from sixth to seventh becomes eight points, which is quite the bridge to cross even at this stage.