Coach Tracey van Dal expects Inner Glow to provide a tough challenge as Lions eye victory and the club championship in Newcastle netball on Saturday.
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Newcastle Netball Association replaced a planned Greater Bank Series with a club championship for a modified 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The club championship is accumulated from points across the championship, opens and 23s divisions and will be tallied after play on Saturday. Souths are second in the open and championship divisions while Lions' 23s side is leading their competition.
"I believe our calculations are if we win two of our three games this weekend we should win it, so we're playing for a lot," van Dal said.
"It's been a bit of a change in my mindset, to be honest. At the start of the season, being a relatively new team, it was all about getting the girls together, forming combinations, building on those combinations from week to week and if any wins come along then fantastic. But once we starting performing the way that we were and the season progressed, I thought we could have a real good crack at the club championship."
Van Dal said Souths were yet to produce a consistent performance across four quarters and has asked for one against Inner Glow.
"They've had some good results and we certainly can't take them lightly," van Dal said. "They have the benefit of being the Charlestown open representative team.
"They've played together for a lot longer and already have those combinations established,. That's the advantage they have over us. We need to make sure that we come out strong in the first quarter."
Inner Glow player-coach Jessika Christensen said the match would be "a good test" for the competition's newcomers.
Kotara South player-coach Rachel Gardner said Tigers were using their match against unbeaten leaders University to continue building for next year. While they have been in most matches, Kotara South have only one win to show for their efforts.
"Uni are pretty well drilled and it's going to be tough," Gardner said. "But we'll get out there and give it a good crack and try to work on a few things and get the young ones on the court.
"We do a lot of things well. We win a lot of ball, we just don't treasure it and convert enough. We have the makings of a really great team but we've just got to tighten it up and capitalise on the one per centers when they come our way. When you've got a bit of inexperience it takes a little while to get there but it's promising for the future."
Nova play Junction and BNC Whanau take on West Leagues Balance.
This weekend's championship games will be the round-two fixtures after that round was originally abandoned due to coronavirus concerns in the region.
After its completion all teams in championship will have played each other once. The make-up of a final round on September 26 is yet to be confirmed.