Season curtain call brings a largely as expected smorgasbord
THE final home and away round of the VNL Championship division produced an array of results that went as many would have expected.
One of those was the Geelong vs. Ariels clash, which saw the Cougars demolish the Ariels to the tune of 47 goals.
From the get go it was clear who the top side was and who the bottom side coming into the clash.
Geelong made a statement from the very first centre pass, and was able to race out to a lead of as much as seven goals, within as little time as the first five minutes.
Even when the Ariels did manage to get the ball into their offensive third, Geelong was able to intercept far too easily, and the speed with which the Cougars were able to move the ball down the court and into their shooters was remarkable.
The Ariels did score, but only about a quarter of what their opponents did as the Cougars went into the opening break with an 16-goal lead.
Despite heading into the game minus Julia Woolley, it did not worry Geelong as Daisy O’Kane stood up straight away and proved to be a worthy replacement for Wooley, partnering Zanna Woods in the shooting circle.
The second term was a much more even affair in the front half, with the Ariels able to really stem the tide of the Cougars’ shooting.
However, the Cougars reasserted some dominance in the back end of the term, and as such took a 24-goal lead into the major break.
The second half was a mere procession at times for the Cougars.
No matter what the likes of Monique Clark and Jayde Aron tried to do to stop the onslaught of goals from the Cougars they just kept on coming, with the margin staying above 20 goals for the entire half.
Geelong should have enjoyed the easier match while they had one, because things are only going to get harder from here as they progress into finals.
The other matches from around the league went largely as expected. The Hawks defeated the Waves pretty comfortably, as did the Falcons over the Express and the Lightning over the Demons. The only real surprise was that the North East Blaze only defeated the Southern Saints by seven goals.
VNL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 18 RESULTS
Hawks Netball (69) defeated Peninsula Waves (44)
North East Blaze (70) defeated Wilson Storage Southern Saints (63)
Geelong Cougars (75) defeated Ariels (28)
Boroondara Express (58) lost to City West Falcons (74)
Melbourne University Lightning (70) defeated Casey Demons (53)
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