All six Ocean Grove’s senior netball teams and all six junior sides currently occupy a spot in the top five at the halfway mark of the season.
The netball program at Ocean Grove has long been considered one of the benchmarks of the Bellarine Netball League and it’s not hard to see why.
The A Grade side has propelled itself into 2nd spot on the ladder after a round one loss and has won eight in a row.
B Grade, C Grade and E Grade are unbeaten while D Grade is in 2nd spot. The 19 and under side is sitting in 5th place.
All under-age teams from 17 and under to 13 and under are in the top five.
Club coach Nikki Cooke said the results speak for themselves.
“It’s a fabulous effort to have all of our six senior sides in the top five,” she said.
“I think it’s a great effort and it just shows the depth of the club as a whole.
“We are really lucky, post-COVID that it could have gone any way. You never know how people are feeling whether they want to get back or whether they enjoyed having their Saturdays back but we are very lucky as a club to have 95 per cent of our senior level players want to come back and play.
“That meant we weren’t starting from scratch, we had a lot of older established combinations back on court and I think it put us in good stead.”
Ocean Grove’s A Grade eight-game winning streak is all the more remarkable considering the side has been missing two of its star defenders with knee injuries.
Candice Parker did an ACL early in the season, but astonishingly took to the court against Barwon Heads, albeit in a cameo role, on the weekend while Rhiannon Whitson has been missing since round three, but is expected back on court in the next couple of weeks.
“Candice Parker did an ACL but played limited minutes against Barwon Heads,” Cooke said.
“She has been dedicated and done a lot of rehab and managed to get back on the court in a very small capacity this week so we will continue to manage her and make sure she is there for us at the end of the season.”
Cooke said the A Grade competition was much more even this season and she said it was good for the competition as a whole.
“It’s really great to see the likes of Newcomb and Portarlington having some success this year,” she said.
“I’m finding whilst there are some big scores, the competition seems to have slowly levelled out a bit.
“There’s never an easy game, you still have to come and play good netball and get that win.
“Especially Newcomb. They’ve had such a long time with little success and for the volunteers at the club and the people that stayed there and the new people that came on board into a club that has been at the bottom of the ladder, it’s a great testament to those people and it’s great to see them paying some good netball.”
Cooke refused to be drawn on who would be leading each grade’s best and fairest so far this season.
“I don’t look at individual performances to be honest,” she said.
“It’s all about the teams and how we can combat our opposition each week. I don’t think I’ve seen any one standout player in any of our teams, it’s all been very much a combined effort.
“It’s very much a team sport and clubs that are successful are clubs that have a lot of depth and everybody playing their role together.”
Cooke was emphatic, however, when asked what she expected for the second half of the season.
“We want the success to continue on the court,” she said.
“It would be good to get through injury free and COVID free and flu free.
“Not sure that’s going to happen so it will be a matter of managing the year that is 2022 with all of these obstacles and hurdles that are thrown at you each week.
“The ability to continue to be flexible and make sure that we have the depth across all teams and as we get closer to finals, all clubs will have to have a look at qualifications and how we make sure we manage that.
“As a club we will be disappointed if we are not playing finals and considering where we are sitting now, we will be disappointed if we don’t end up in the top three and have those five or six senior teams playing in a grand final.”
ROUND 9
A GRADE: Ocean Grove 67 def Barwon Heads 39. Best: Jessica Rankin, Kelsey Ollis, Anna Smith. Goals: Rebecca O’Neill 52, Ashton O’Brien 13, Georgia Ryan 2.
B GRADE: Ocean Grove 59 def Barwon Heads 45.
Best: Meg Badrock, Isabel Hackett, Shelby Hackett. Goals: Nikki Cooke 34, Jesse Sutton 13, Emma Badrock 12.
C GRADE: Ocean Grove 50 def Barwon Heads 20. Best: Kellie Morrish, Melissa Briggs, Gemma Bell. Goals: Kate Titheridge 19, Amelia Cunningham 17, Shereen Wolfe 14.
D GRADE: Ocean Grove 21 def by Barwon Heads 42. Best: Zarly Smith, Tarryn Stanley, Jorja Connellan. Goals: Danielle Baker 14, Hannah Quinn 5, Lucy Sampson 2.
E GRADE: Ocean Grove 28 def Barwon Heads 26. Best: Lara Barnes, Terri-Anne Finch, Maggie Lee. Goals: Famie Needham 18, Belinda Elliston 5, Maggie Lee 5.
19/U: Ocean Grove 18 def by Barwon Heads 37. Best: Sarah Fecchio, Tara Sampson, Anabelle Sargeant. Goals: Abbey Cowley 9, Sarah Fecchio 6, Isabella Maier 3.
17/U Section 1: Ocean Grove 42 def Barwon Heads 26. Best: Anika Bult, Charlotte Teague, Maya Hamilton. Goals: Anika Bult 17, Lucy Sampson 16, Maya Hamilton 9.
17/U Section 2: Ocean Grove 26 def Barwon Heads 23. Best: Tilly Peace-Teague, Tylah Foley, Giselle Dawson. Goals: Tylah Foley 13, Ruby Hildebrandt 7, Alice Molloy 6.
15/U Section 1: Ocean Grove 13 def Barwon Heads 10. Best: Amelia Stanic, Charlotte Heenan, Bella Wearmouth. Goals: Adele Mills 9, Poppy Hart 4.
15/U Section 2: Ocean Grove 22 def Barwon Heads 13. Best: Mikala Martin, Abhi Sanjeev, Kayla Forward. Goals: Scarlett Sadler 11, Annika Willis 6, Bella Mawson 5.
13/U Section 1: Ocean Grove 20 def by Barwon Heads 28. Best: Madeleine Gibbon, Alexandra Norgard, Heidi Armstrong. Goals: Memphis Johnson 9, Ruby Cook 7, Briella Considine 4.
13/U Section 2: Ocean Grove 14 def Barwon Heads 5. Best: Lara Forward, Caitlin Parker, Grace van Maasdyk. Goals: Charli Burke 4, Lara Forward 4, Ella Dowling 1.
