Sport
4 July, 2026
Finish full of tension
MARONG and Inglewood have played out the Loddon Valley season’s first draw in A Grade netball.
MARONG and Inglewood have played out the Loddon Valley season’s first draw in A Grade netball.
The draw, which came after the Blues trailed for virtually all of the game, sees them retain third place, while the Panthers have leapfrogged Pyramid Hill into fifth on the ladder.
Just six points separate Inglewood in third and the Bulldogs in sixth, with Calivil hanging on a further game behind.
Playing at home, Marong controlled the game early on, with defenders Ashleigh Medhurst and Laurel Prowse applying the clamps to Inglewood’s usually dominant goalers, Aleisha Shay and Teresa Fitzpatrick.
The Panthers’ transition game was working well, with Marong’s Charlie Coghill having a titanic battle in the mid-court with Inglewood coach Dani O’Toole.
The result was a nine-goal lead at the first change.
The Woodies began to claw their way back into the contest in the second quarter, with Shay scoring 26 goals in the middle two terms as the margin was trimmed to just three goals at the final change of ends.
Tensions ran high in the last quarter in a game that was always physical, with Inglewood chipping away at Marong’s lead and eventually levelling the contest.
Marong can strengthen its grip on fifth place - still a tenuous one - with a win over Calivil on Saturday, while Inglewood meets second-placed Bridgewater in a
blockbuster.
BRIDGEWATER’S 19-goal win over Pyramid Hill might signal a changing of the guard in Loddon Valley netball.
The Mean Machine’s comfortable victory pushed the runner up in the past two grand finals out of the finals’ places, even if temporarily.
Aside from the Mitiamo juggernaut, Bridgewater has the most potent scoring record in the league, and a percentage of 144 to prove it, as well as a miserly defence.
If the Mean Machine can overcome Inglewood in the local derby this week, and second-placed Newbridge stumbles against the all-conquering Superoos, they will leap from fourth to second.
They may be hard to dislodge from that spot given the percentage gap between them and their closest rivals - they are 23 per cent ahead of the Maroons.
The gap to Inglewood is even greater, but the Woodies’ draw against Marong last Saturday has rendered percentage irrelevant in that match up.
Bridgewater coach Lou Dupuy said that her team’s early 10-goal lead set them up for the rest of the match in an all-round fine performance.
Goal attack Dannielle Flood was best on court, as much for her assists to sister Natalie as for her goaling. Dupuy said this week’s meeting with Inglewood was “a must-win game for the confidence of our team”
Read More: Pyramid Hill, Loddon Shire