Ocean Grove is showing no signs of a premiership hangover, racing to consecutive wins to open the Bellarine Netball League A Grade season.
The Grubbers posted a 53-goal win against Modewarre in round 1 and brushed aside Portarlington 64 to 26 on Saturday.
And while Ocean Grove will face better teams than the Warriors and Demons this season, coach Mel Holmes has been pleased with her side’s start.
An impressive Ocean Grove applied full-court pressure on Port from the outset to race to a 19 to 6 lead at the first break.
“That’s something we’ve been working on at training having obviously the two bigs (defenders Georgia Berry and Amanda O’Malley) in there was something different,” Holmes said.
“I thought they executed what we’ve been practising into the game really well. That was our plan so I was happy to see that.”
Holmes made regular rotations given the unseasonably warm conditions at Ray Menzies Oval courts, but this Grove looks fit and able to run out games in any weather.
“They’re fit, they’re running and all that sort of stuff, so it’s sort of not an issue,” Holmes said.
“It’s kind of now just keeping their fitness obviously. But it’s that working together for each other that’s most important. We don’t do heaps and heaps of fitness on Thursday nights, because I (already) expect that they are fit.
“They know we have to use training to work on team stuff.”
Courtney Leith was named best for Ocean Grove in her role in midcourt while defenders Berry and O’Malley made scoring difficult for Port.
“She’s a great addition,” Holmes said of former Werribee Centrals champion O’Malley.
“The girls love having her and Courtney on the right, I thought she was our best.”
Ocean Grove takes on Anglesea on Easter Saturday.
“I think they’ve probably got a young team,” Holmes said.
“They’ve got young girls coaching, I think so for us, early in the season with changes to teams, you don’t really know what to expect. Anglesea looks quite different on paper. I know a couple of them, but we will just focus on ourselves. It’s later in the year when you’ve played all the teams that you get a feel on where everyone is at.”
Drysdale defeated Modewarre by 28 goals with Paige McGrath starring at wing defence and Grace Hunt doing well at goal attack.
Geelong Amateur got off to a fast start against Anglesea and eased away to a 30-goal win with Georgia Duncan on fire in the middle.
An 11 goal to four last quarter allowed Queenscliff to post a 14-goal win against Barwon Heads with goal keeper Ebony Rolph best on court while the ever reliable Kaitlin Gladman played her role at goal attack.
Despite trailing Torquay by a goal at half-time, Newcomb powered away to an impressive 13-goal victory with Sian Mortlock good in attack.
