Mooroopna monsters Tatura to score a statement win in round 13 Goulburn Valley League netball action

The Cats carved strips off the Bulldogs in a top-four Goulburn Valley League clash on Saturday, screaming ahead to an 11-2 lead at quarter-time.

From there, Mooroopna was mist — Tatura simply couldn’t grab hold of the hosting side as Di Hanslow’s charges stormed to a 50-25 win to affirm their status as the competition’s second best outfit on paper this season.

Unsurprisingly, quick starts have been a highlight of Hanslow’s focus of late, but what impressed her was the continual push from her team as time ticked by.

“We know we’ve been having some really good starts, but we’re still focusing on getting better on our starts as well, just making sure we bring the intensity across the court,” Hanslow said.

“Today’s focus was about bringing it for the whole 60 minutes, just focus based for what we were doing each quarter and that was the goal to make sure we didn’t drop off that.

“We probably did a little bit in that last quarter, but it was hard to keep the focus at that level when the score was where it was at and there was a lot of changes happening for both sides in that last quarter.”

From the first quarter until the third, Mooroopna established a frenetic tempo, with radical right-to-left movement stunning the Bulldogs.

Asha Gray, Caitlin McLachlan and Dayna Williams refused to afford the Tatura attack any space around the offensive ring with the shackles applied early on.

With no Elsie Boyer, the Bulldogs looked to Molly Kennedy to control the midcourt and she performed well under constant pressure, yet Mooroopna’s sleek and liquid passing often left the Tatura players chasing shadows.

Adding to that, Ash Lancaster dispatched most, if not all, the chances that came her way.

McLachlan’s physicality was dominant in defence, too, evident in the 21-8 half-time score.

The trend continued throughout the second half, though in the final term, it seemed as if the Cats had let the foot off the gas ever so slightly as Tatura managed 10 goals — its best quarter of the game.

However, from Mooroopna’s perspective, the earlier hard yards had paid dividends with the Cats hardly worried about the Bulldogs’ late surge.

Hanslow admired the combination of Williams and McLachlan, especially considering the bond they’ve formed has been relatively new in the grand scheme.

“They have been building as a combination more and more and making sure those in front of them are doing their work as well,” she said.

“Denying access to shooters; when you see our scorelines, obviously we’re doing that very well. Today it was just then focused on making sure we finish off down our attack end.

“I thought we were a lot better at that today, but it’s more that we sometimes force ball that we don’t necessarily need to.

“We need to create more angles to get the ball in a little bit easier into our shooters, but in the same stage it was very tough down that attack end.

“But I like the fact that it didn’t bother them that it was tough, they just kept going ‘all right, it’s tough out here, but that’s what GV netball is about and we’ve just got to embrace that toughness and go with it’.”

Elsewhere, Shepparton Swans kept their finals hopes afloat with a 61-43 victory over Mansfield, while Shepparton remains in the six after a 28-goal beating of rival Shepparton United.

Echuca proved too much for Seymour as it streaked away to a 50-32 win, while Rochester dealt to Benalla by 20 goals.

Lastly, top side Euroa breezed past Kyabram 70-39 despite trailing midway through the second term.