Warners Bay on target for NPLW NNSW success as midpoint approaches

The Panthers were widely touted to be the NPLW Northern NSW pace-setters after recruiting Jets trio Cassidy Davis, Tara Andrews and Lauren Allan.

They also picked up former national league striker Adriana Konjarski (nee Jones) and already had talent and firepower in the league's 2021 player of the year Elodie Dagg and fellow midfielder Tara Pender.

Warners Bay are top of the table after 10 outings, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing.

A 4-2 loss at the hands of a resurgent Newcastle Olympic in round 10 was what Atkins described as "a slip-up".

They responded with a 1-0 win over second-placed Broadmeadow at Magic Park on Sunday to seize the outright competition lead.

Konjarski sealed the win with her 25^th goal of the season but it was the effort of some of Warners Bay's lesser-talked-about players that Atkins also praised for ensuring an important three points as well as a clean sheet against the defending premiers.

"We conceded a few soft ones [against Olympic] and the girls knew that but were really solid today," Atkins said post-match on Sunday.

"We just tightened a few things and bought young Mia Cook in at left-back. She's 16 years of age and has been killing them in reserve grade so she got an opportunity.

"With our squad we can put players up and down and I thought she was outstanding. I thought Amy Gosling out wide did a job on [Lucy] Jerram and was outstanding. She's a quiet achiever. You look at all of those [big-name] players but you can't forget the other ones.

"[Centre-back] Kristy [Martin] is a rock at the back - very experienced, steady. She controls the ship there and I thought her and Airlie [Davis] were really good and the back four were great."

The top-six sides can all score plenty of goals. But defence will be key to success.

"Defence starts at the front and we didn't defend well enough from the top [against Olympic]," Atkins said.

"You can't blame the back four. It's got to get through everyone else. But a few little tweaks and I thought it was a solid performance."

Warners Bay, who have 22 points, reach their season midpoint on Saturday when they travel to Taree to play seventh-placed Mid Coast (7). Second-placed Magic were on 19 before their clash with fourth-placed Maitland (16) at Cooks Square Park on Wednesday night. The two meet again Monday.

"It's a tough competition, there's results going left, right and centre at the moment," Atkins said. "So, if you're winning you're getting further in front. We're definitely happy with where we are.

"You want to be on top of the table, but that can change in a week or two so that's our focus now."

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