South Wallsend captain Laura Byrnes described the Wolves’ opening round performance in the Herald Women’s Premier League as “a shaky start” and was looking forward to showing how far they had come since the 6-0 loss to Merewether when they host the unbeaten leaders on Sunday.
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“We had a lot of new players and we were a little bit overwhelmed,” Byrnes said.
But the former Australian schoolgirl, who is a Merewether junior, believes it will be a much tighter contest this weekend.
South Wallsend have shown improvement in every outing since and produced their best performance of the season in their last hit-out. They went down 1-0 to defending champions Warners Bay but Byrnes said “we showed a lot of character”.
“I feel like that first game was a bit of a write-off,” Byrnes said. “We’ll still be aware of it and will definitely respect Merewether but we are looking forward to it.
“It will be a good indication of how far we have come since that first round.”
South Wallsend will be without midfielder Erin Wilson, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, but coach Gary Wilson said former W-League player Stacey Day “is getting closer to a starting spot”.
Merewether travel to Walker Fields after disposing of Adamstown 6-0 in a rescheduled match on Wednesday night in a performance coach Cassie Koppen described as “probably the best I have seen us play since I have been coaching at Merewether”.
United will be missing goalkeeper Alison Logue, Grace Macintyre, Rebekah Stuart and Sarah Halvorsen through unavailability.
Warners Bay play Rosebud at Adamstown Oval on Saturday and Thornton are at home to Mid North Coast on Sunday. All games are at 2.15pm.
Big guns on show in Hunters clash
Newcastle Hunters coach Mark Gledson expected Manly to have “something special” in store for three-time Olympian Suzy Batkovic when the two sides do battle in Waratah Basketball League action at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Saturday.
Gledson expected Batkovic, who was dominant on debut for the Hunters in a double-header at home last weekend, to come under plenty of attention from the Sea Eagles and said the rest of the women’s Hunters team needed to “keep moving and be active” rather than “stand and watch”.
“They will get the ball in an easier position than what Suzy will be in because people are going to double team and triple team her,” Gledson said.
He also expected the match to be an entertaining one for spectators with Batkovic’s former Opals teammate Belinda Snell taking the court for Manly.
“They both play hard,” Gledson said of Batkovic and Snell.
“We’ve just got to get back into that winning phase and everyone understanding what they’ve got to do.”
Grand final rematch in netball
They have battled out the past three Greater Open Championship grand finals and it is a match-up Forsythes Business Advisors and Souths Lions both look forward to.
Souths have won all three but there is never much separating the sides and with both teams at full strength this weekend it is set to be another arm wrestle.
Wests Leagues Balance play Souths Pride, Maryville Tavern take on BNC Whanau and Junction Stella and Nova Thunder will both be chasing their first win of the season in their clash.
Top of the table clash in Black Diamond AFL
Defending champions Nelson Bay will face a stern test when they host in-form Killarney Vale in round four of the Women’s Black Diamond AFL on Saturday.
Warners Bay will look to build on their stunning come-from-behind win over the Hawks last weekend when they travel to No.1 Sportsground to play Newcastle Novas.
Gosford are at home to Lake Macquarie, Maitland face the tough task of hosting competition heavyweights Newcastle City and Singleton travel for their first-ever local derby with Muswellbrook.
Leaguetag showdown
Central Newcaslte host Lakes United in what is expected to be the match of the round in Newcastle Rugby League leaguetag this weekend.
Both sides recorded big wins in the opening round of the inaugural competition last weekend.
Central downed Kurri Kurri 26-6 while Lakes smashed Macquarie 44-0.
The Central-Lakes match will be played at St John Oval on Sunday.
In matches on Saturday, Cessnock are at home to South Newcastle, Kurri Kurri play Wests Newcastle at Kurri Kurri and Macquarie take on Maitland at Peacock Field.
All games are at 11.10am.
Hockey action
Oxfords and Tigers will both have players out due to state commitments when they go head to head in the match of the round of Newcastle Central Coast Women’s Premier League hockey at the Newcastle International Hockey Centre on Saturday.
Central look set to be in for a battle against competition pace-setters Avoca, who are coming off a 12-1 win over Erina last round.
Souths and Erina will both be desperate for competition points when they trade blows.
On the Central Coast, quiet achievers Gosford host an understrength Regals.
Send your women’s sports news to r.valentine@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
