A Kyabram team filled with teenagers was given a taste of what it will take to match it with the best netball teams in the Goulburn Valley League on Saturday night.
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The new-look unit contested the opening round of the season against the highly-favoured Mooroopna, a side that finished the 2023 home and away season second with a 14-4 record.
Natasha Dodos, Isla Carver and Abby Waasdorp are all straight out of the Under-17 ranks and spent four quarters matching it with a team that went deep into the finals last season.
Last season, Mooroopna beat the Bombers in the round 16 A-grade netball fixture, 68-36.
While the score was not too dissimilar on Saturday night, 58-27 in the Cats’ favour, it was a first-quarter domination that had a major impact on the result.
Mooroopna captain and goaler Ashley Lancaster shot 15 of her team’s 16 first-quarter goals and the lead was 12 at the first break.
Kyabram’s goaling duo of Dodos and Maaia Roberts responded in the second quarter by doubling their output and scoring eight goals — Dodos shooting seven of those.
Roberts moved to wing attack after the long break and Isla Carver, who spent much of last year working in tandem with Dodos, moved from the centre into goals.
In the second half, Kyabram was only outscored 27-15 as the teenage goaling combination shared responsibility for the score.
Lancaster’s influence was also reduced by the work of Bombers captain Jemma Hall and defensive partner Monique Williams.
Lancaster finished with 44 of her team’s 58 goals.
Waasdorp moved from wing attack into the centre for the second half and combined in the mid-field with Caitie Minger to reduce the dominance of the Cats.
Judging by the score from the Rochester and Benalla match, the young Bombers have a big task ahead of them next week. Rochester won the match 73-45.
• Kyabram’s B-grade team faced a Mooroopna team that was a grand finalist in 2023 and the Cats performed according to their ranking.
At half-time, the score was 31-15 in the Cats favour, Kyabram goaler Micaela Herbert responsible for 11 of those goals.
She and Hannah Newman spent the entire game in goals, but the experience and power of the opposition meant the second half blew out even further and the team eventually lost 28-73.
Molly Carver was the stand-out mid-field player for the Bombers, starting at wing attack, before spending one quarter in goals and the entire last half in the centre.
Taleera De Pasquale, who started on the interchange and replaced Tori Walsh half-way through the first quarter, was the pick of the defenders and spent the final three quarters at goal keeper.
She worked in tandem with Courtney Mason in an attempt to stop gun Mooroopna goaler Eliza Gesler, who shot 42 goals for the game.
• Elli Kiker produced the outstanding performance of the night for Kyabram, shooting 42 of her team’s 47 goals in a 15-goal win for the B-reserve team.
Kiker shot all 12 first-quarter goals as the Kyabram team led by two at quarter-time.
That lead was extended to six at the long break and to eight at three-quarter-time.
A brilliant 12-goal quarter by Kiker to end the game saw Kyabram score 13 goals to six and win 47-32.
Laura Papalia was the pick of the mid-court players, working to link defence into attack, while Taleera De Pasquale (for the second time on the day) defended superbly.
She worked with Tearna Filbey and Josephine Farrant in defence to restrict Mooroopna to only 13 second-half goals.
Mooroopna finished fourth in B-reserve last season, just ahead of Kyabram, losing in the third week of the finals. Kyabram lost its first round finals fixture in 2023.
• In the junior grades, a single quarter hiccup cost Kyabram any chance of victory in the Under-15 game.
After trailing by just one at quarter-time, Mooroopna, side that finished runner-up last season, shot 13 goals to five in the second term and extended its lead to 11 goals by three-quarter-time.
Kyabram was competitive again in the final term, outscored by just two goals, but lost the game 28-41.
Mia Stockdale and Ruby Barker were used in all four mid-court positions during the game, Stockdale at centre for three of those, providing the impetus for the Bombers to stay in touch after the second quarter blow out.
Ella Hooper shot 20 of the team’s 28 goals, working with Mia Kilpatrick and Mia Lyons (for one quarter) to keep Kyabram in the game.
Jenna Quattrocchi and Maggie Guinan spent the entire game in defence.
• In the Under-17s match captain Stella Trezise worked with Rose Cunningham and Grae Burnett to keep Kyabram in sight of its quality opponent in the first half.
Kyabram trailed by five at quarter-time and seven at the long break before the dam wall broke in the second half.
Mooroopna outscored Kyabram 34-12 after the long break to win the match 58-29.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor