Tougher tests ahead for Tongala after Barooga win

Tongala coach Grace Hammond was impressed with her side’s focus, particularly in the first quarter where the defending champions grabbed a stranglehold on the match early on.

“I think the score at the (first) break was 22 to 2,” she said.

“I couldn't fault my girls in the first quarter, so we had a really positive start, which was great, and then that continued into the game and allowed us to extend our lead at each break.”

Goal shooter Milly Brock shone once again for Tonny, picking up best on court for the Blues as well as the Anzac medal awarded by the umpires.

“Same as every other week there's not many bad things you can say about Milly when it comes to netball,” Hammond said, “but honestly our awards could have gone to anyone yesterday, no-one played a bad game, everyone did their role and was exceptional, so it was quite hard to pick awards.”

It has been a very routine start to the season for Hammonds side, with the reigning premiers having played the league’s three winless sides, Echuca United, Numurkah, and now Barooga over the last three rounds.

Tongala also had a week off last week due to the Murray league’s split round but Hammond said the extra week didn’t change a lot in her side’s preparation.

“We don’t tend to add a hell of a lot during the season to our games,” she said.

“We just focus on our basics and make sure we really get them right and we believe that’s the way we win games playing a basic clean game of netball.

“So as long as we can nail those basics and keep making sure that they’re in tune and in check then I think we’ll keep progressing quite well.

“Obviously, we do add a few things here and there but we don't like to complicate our game of netball, we just like to stick to the basics and enjoy it.”

The schedule seems set to pick up next Saturday when the Blues will visit Moama Recreation Reserve to face off with a Magpies outfit that looks to be one of the league’s contending sides with a 3-1 through four rounds.