Sport
18 August, 2022
Midcourt depth key for Beaufort
A SCINTILLATING finish to the home-and-away season has given Beaufort A-Grade coach Alice Laidlaw plenty of selection “headaches” ahead of Saturday’s Elimination Final.
A SCINTILLATING finish to the home-and-away season has given Beaufort A-Grade coach Alice Laidlaw plenty of selection “headaches” ahead of Saturday’s Elimination Final.
Despite only losing four matches this season, Beaufort ended one of the most competitive Central Highlands netball campaigns in fifth position and opens its finals series in a cut-throat tie against Dunnstown this weekend.
Laidlaw’s selection dilemmas lie in the mid-court, an area which has become an area of the court stacked with talent at Beaufort and the linchpin in its transition game.
With several combinations tried-and-tested to great effect throughout the season, Laidlaw expects a decision on who to start in the middle third to be a tough one.
“We’re pretty set when it comes to defence and attack, but the midcourt is where I have a lot of headaches trying to pick the combinations and trying to work out who’s in form, which is hard because they’re all playing so well,” Laidlaw said.
“It’s all about playing to people’s strengths. Megan [Mullane] has a wind-defence background, so I put her on Rokewood’s centre who was really strong and Megan did a really good job on her.
“Alana [Roberts] is another one of our centres and she is a great driver and very fast, so it depends on the style I need them to play. You pick your combinations based on what the other team are doing and what we need.”
Further up the court, Beaufort will hope to welcome prolific goal-shooter Eliza Christian back into the line-up, after she missed the match against Rokewood with COVID.
Despite a squad reshuffle at the beginning of 2021, Beaufort wasted little time asserting itself as one of the Central Highlands’ emerging contenders as sport made its full-time return this year.
The Crows head into Saturday’s final with a 3-4 record against top-eight sides, including a comprehensive win over this week’s opponent Dunnstown earlier in the season.
Laidlaw, who signed on as Beaufort coach for 2023, believes the next step will be pushing the sides currently in the top four even further as her team continues to develop,
“We had a chat on Thursday about how we’ve only really been together for one proper season and we’ve gelled so well, so we’re really excited about what future holds,” Laidlaw said.
“Before the weekend we had only lost three games and I’ve told the girls if we were in a different league with that record, we’d be near the top but because our league is so tough at the top end, we’re fifth.
“A lot of our opposition has commented on how impressed they’ve been with our gameplay and our transitional work from defence to attack and how easy we made it look. It’s been good to have that feedback which suggests what we’re doing is working.”