Lara Langford and her Numurkah side earned their second victory of the season on Saturday.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Do not put a line through Numurkah just yet.
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Though the new-look Blues had a rough start to life in Murray Netball League with one win from four games, Saturday’s confidence and percentage boosting victory has Laura Ryan’s side scaling the ladder again.
Numurkah lost to Mulwala, Rumbalara and Nathalia early doors, but swung back the tides at home by taking down Cobram 47-32 in round five.
The Blues asserted dominance against a winless Tigers, kicking out to a 12-5 quarter time lead and extending the advantage to 10 by the main break.
To Cobram’s credit, the travellers rallied to pile on 14 goals in the third term to make it 31-26, but Numurkah ensured it wouldn’t falter by replying with 16 of its own in the last to walk away with its second set of four points banked for 2025.
When assessing the opening five weeks of the campaign, Ryan said she was far from worried with the Blues’ progress to date.
Cobram's Meg Denson whips a pass out of defence.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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Numurkah's Abby Commadeur works an angle from inside the circle.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Cobram's Alahni Hulley gets the goal in her sights.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Cobram's Amalie Pate finds herself in a pocket of space.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Cobram's Leah Nish and Numurkah's Michelle Ryan.
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Rechelle Zammit
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Cobram's Ashley Gardner gets things going from the centre circle.
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Rechelle Zammit
“We’ve had a bit of a tough start to the year in terms of the teams we’ve come up against - looking at the ladder, we had the top three in the first four rounds,” she said.
“We’ve actually been really happy with the start to the year and it was a really good opportunity yesterday to consolidate some of the things that we’ve seen in those games and have been working in on in training and put that out as a win against Cobram.”
“What we’ve noticed is it’s just little things. We are a completely new team at Numurkah this year, and we knew it would take a little bit to find our feet.
“We’ve been really pleased with the performances, and I think that little bit of underdog mentality has been working well for us.”
Ryan also said Numurkah’s consistency within the playing group - reflected by its internal voting system — indicates the Blues aren’t far off where they need to be.
And in turn, ticking off some wins in a row.
Numurkah has the coming weekend off as the MNL welcomes a split round, but after that, the eighth ranked Blues eye off a string of matches against teams similarly placed on the ladder.
“We’re looking forward to the week off as a refresh, but then really keen to face the next little block of games,” she said.
“Hopefully it’s another opportunity to consolidate the work we’ve been doing and building on our performances so that when we come up against those top sides, we can really give it a shake and put ourselves in positions to win those tougher battles.”
At the top of the pile, Nathalia overtook Rumbalara on percentage for pole position after it throttled Finley 60-27, making it five on the bounce for the Purples.
Rumbalara scored a similarly epic victory, notching a 67-29 result against Deniliquin Rams, while Congupna and Echuca United played out a thrilling draw.
The Road trailed at both the quarter and half-time breaks, locking things up at 24-all by three-quarter time before grinding out a 32-32 result at the hooter.
Finally, Moama had the better of Tongala 48-34 while Mulwala scalped a 47-26 win over Barooga.
