CAVALIERS will be aiming to regain their spot in the State League netball top four with a victory on their Silverdome home court against the Burnie Tigers on Saturday.
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A win over Cripps following a defeat to top team Arrows last weekend was not enough to save Cavs fourth spot with Karana leap-frogging them into the top four.
But Cavaliers can regain that spot with victory over Burnie while Karana faces a tougher battle against Arrows.
Despite their convincing win against Burnie earlier in the season Cavaliers coach Dannie Carstens is certainly not taking their coastal rival for granted.
“Burnie are a team on the improve. We will have to make sure that we are using our own ball from our centre passes effectively, particularly when tired and under pressure,” she said.
“After a strong start last week against Cripps we really faded away in the third quarter and made it really difficult for ourselves by forcing the ball to options that were not there, and not capitalising on balls that we turned over.”
Carstens will be looking for strong contributions across the court.
“The defensive unit of Tessa Coote, Kelsie Norquay and Grace van Noord will need to fire by maintaining one-on-one pressure, and our attacking end need to continue to do the basics well as we progress into the middle of the season.”
Cavaliers precariously straddle fourth and fifth position on the ladder and are at risk of having their season end prematurely if they cannot find some consistent form, capitalise on the opportunities presented and convert them on the scoreboard.
NORTHERN HAWKS go into this weekend’s match against Devon at the Silverdome aiming to improve their consistency and limit basic errors in attack.
After a loss to competition leaders Arrows, Hawks are out to make amends with full intensity in attack and defence to prove they are worthy contenders by supplying accurate passes and instinctive spatial awareness.
Hawks coach Ruth Tuohy said: “This will be a good game for us to try out a few different combinations with players to create more experience and options for us going further into the season.
“The result of the Arrows game does not reflect the opportunities we created against such a strong competitive side, our decision making while transitioning the ball down the court needs to support the hard work we do in turning the ball over defensively with a more methodical and controlled approach.
“Every game gives us the opportunity to become a stronger as a team and keep improving our on-court performance”.