THIS week’s VNL match of the round went about as it was expected to on paper, with the Geelong Cougars absolutely dominating the Peninsula Waves to win 85-42.

Although the beginning of the game was a close affair, Geelong blew the Waves out of the park in the third quarter, and the Waves were unable to climb Mt Everest in the final term to take the win. 

It took them a while, but the Waves eventually got the first goal on the board over a minute into the term.

However, the Cougars got the next two to establish a lead for themselves.

Zanna Woods was prolific in front of the ring for Geelong, while Julia Woolley was doing a mountain of work out the front.

The Cougars maintained their lead for the rest of the quarter, but only really blew It out in the last few minutes of the term.

At quarter time, Geelong’s lead sat at seven goals.

Despite some great defensive work from Gabrielle Dwyer, the Waves could not capitalise and make much of a dent into the lead early in the second term.

It was a goal for goal affair for much of the opening half of the quarter, with the margin hovering between seven and nine goals.

Then, things started to fall apart a bit for the Waves. The Cougars got on a bit of a run, and the Waves just could not score.

The margin had blown out to 17 goals at half time, with Geelong in cruising control and the Waves plenty left to do in the second half.

Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Waves in the second half. The goals onslaught from the Cougars continued, and there was not much Peninsula’s’ defenders could do as the margin ballooned out to over 20 goals.

The Cougars goalers were working well together and they were getting plenty of opportunities from the likes of Vanessa Augustini to shoot as the Waves stopped scoring.

At the final change, the margin sat at a whopping 34 goals.

The Waves got the better start to the final term, but still had a long way to go to get back into the game.

Unfortunately for the Waves the margin proved just too much of a challenge to claw back, as the Cougars extended their lead out even further and ultimately won by over 40 goals.

It was an all round team performance from the Cougars, who really showed they are first on the ladder for a reason.

In other results, not even the inclusion of former Diamond Renae Ingles could help Casey get over the line against the City West Falcons, losing by four goals. The Booroondara Express also had a narrow win over the Wilson Storage Southern Saints, while Melbourne Uni continued their winning run by defeating the Hawks by five goals. The North East Blaze had it a little easier against the Ariels, winning by 28 goals.

VNL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 RESULTS

Hawks Netball (60) lost to Melbourne University Lightning (64)
Geelong Cougars (85) defeated Peninsula Waves (42)
Wilson Storage Southern Saints (51) lost to Boroondara Express (54)
Casey Demons (60) lost to City West Falcons (64)
Ariels (45) lost to North East Blaze (73)