TONIGHT sees the beginning of the second half of the 2023 Victorian Netball League season. Although there is still so much to play for in the VNL, with so much happening in the Suncorp Super Netball competition at the moment, VNL players should start thinking about trying to impress ahead of next season.

In terms of this week’s fixtures, there are some interesting match ups among the five fixtures tonight.

Among them is the second Grand Final rematch for the year, with the City West Falcons looking to atone for their one loss of the year so far against Geelong tonight.

That loss in Round 1 to Geelong was the Falcons’ only loss for the year, but since then the Cougars have also only had one loss, so someone is likely to pick up their second loss tonight, and depending on the margin it could shake up how the top three looks after the round.

One team that could be really impacted by the results of that match is the Express, who could jump into top place with a win over the Waves tonight.

They are the other team with currently only one loss to their name this season, and if they defeat the Waves by enough and the Cougars get the win, the Express will jump to top.

The Waves will of course be hoping for the upset win, but this is unlikely a win they would have targeted.

It is also a big week for the Saints, who have the Ariels tonight. Currently in fourth, they do not want to slip any further behind the top three but also want to build a gap between themselves and those chasing them. They play the ninth-placed Ariels, who have not given much to be excited about this season so it is the perfect chance for the Saints to do so, while the Ariels need to ensure they do not lose by too much so as to not badly affect their percentage, which is already the worst in the league.

Someone else that finds themselves in a similar situation to the Saints is the Blaze. Only a small percentage behind the Saints, the Blaze also need to keep winning to stay in touch with that top three.

They play the Dees tonight, who have only beaten the two teams below them so far this season so should prove very little challenge for the fifth placed Blaze tonight.

The final match may be between the sixth placed Hawks and seventh placed Lightning, but as such may ultimately be one of the closest matches of the round.

While in most of the matches this week it is one of the top sides playing one of the bottom sides, but not in this one. Both sides in this one will not be happy with how their season has gone so far, and after both sides were finals contenders for much of last season, will be looking for a win to kickstart their season and stay in touch with the Blaze and Saints and return to being in contention for finals.

Victorian Netball League Round 10 Fixture

Boroondara Express vs Peninsula Waves

City West Falcons vs Geelong Cougars

Ariels vs Wilson Storage Southern Saints

North East Blaze vs Casey Demons

Melbourne University Lightning vs Hawks Netball