Sport
11 April, 2024
Local lineup has Miti looking strong again
MITIAMO A-grade netball coach Jen Wilson is relying on local talent to keep the club near the top of the Loddon Valley league in 2024. The Superoos have been runners-up for the past two seasons and hope to go one better with the core of the 2023...
MITIAMO A-grade netball coach Jen Wilson is relying on local talent to keep the club near the top of the Loddon Valley league in 2024.
The Superoos have been runners-up for the past two seasons and hope to go one better with the core of the 2023 team intact, and defender Kelly Pay returning after having a baby.
Wilson said the squad had trained well and worked hard on their fitness during the summer as Mitiamo looked to go one better this season.
She was proud that developing local talent had been behind the club’s success in the past two seasons.
While clubs such as Maiden Gully and Marong could recruit from the wider Bendigo area, Mitiamo had relied on locals.
“The club was on the brink of folding a couple of years ago, but we’ve built a culture where players want to stay at Mitiamo,” Wilson said.
Players often returned home to play on weekends from tertiary studies in Melbourne and Ballarat, such was the pull of the club.
Among them is key competition centre Amelia Ludeman who has been a consistent vote-getter in the league’s Helen Ward Medal.
Wilson sees Maiden Gully YCW, premier for the past two years, and Marong, which finished third, as major competitors this season.
Marong is Mitiamo’s first-up match, an early test of where the two clubs will be in 2024. The Superoos won by a single goal in last year’s preliminary final.
Maiden Gully faces Calivil United as it begins its premiership defence.
The Eagles have lost a host of players since last season, but they are expected to be strong contenders again. Calivil finished seventh in 2023 and have a new coach in Hayley Fawcett to lead a young squad.
Calivil’s season will be shaped by a challenging start, facing four of last season’s finalists in the first five rounds.
Bears Lagoon Serpentine takes on Pyramid Hill this weekend. The Bears were winless last season, but have high hopes under new coach Danielle O’Toole, who won Marong’s A-grade best-and-fairest award in 2023.
Pyramid Hill finished fourth last year and are expected to be strong challengers in the new season.
It’s a battle of the bridges in round one, as Bridgewater hosts Newbridge.
The teams finished sixth and fifth respectively last season and are likely to be in the finals mix again.
Inglewood, to be coached by last season’s best-and-fairest Abbey Hayes, have the round-one bye, and will be looking to improve on a two-win 2023 season.
They face Bears Lagoon Serpentine in round two, so will be aiming for a winning start to their season.