Elle Nexhip captained the Bendigo Strikers on a brave run to the semi-finals. Photo: Bendigo Strikers
The Bendigo Strikers fell to a heart-breaking VNL Championship semi-final defeat against City West Falcons, as head coach Tracey Brereton paid tribute to captain Elle Nexhip and her teammates for their efforts.
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The Strikers’ 2026 campaign came to an end with a 64-58 loss to the reigning champions at the State Netball Centre.
The Strikers, who led by five goals at quarter time and by eight two minutes into the second term, and were only two down going into the final term, were aiming to advance beyond the semi-finals for the first time in their three years in the state’s premier netball competition.
“It was disappointing as we put ourselves in a really good position to set the game up, but we have to be happy with how well we competed and we were in it right up until the end,” Brereton said.
“So, mixed feelings. We were seven or eight (goals) up at one point and just had a lapse for five minutes, where we scored once off six centre passes.
“That just brought them back into the game.
“Where I say I’m pleased, as well as not too upset is – if I think back to the final against (Boroondara) Express in last year’s semi - we let it blow out. But we were still there on Wednesday night at three-quarter time with a big chance to win it.”
“If we had just kept that pressure from the first quarter up going into the second, things might have been different,” Brereton said.
“Good teams like Falcons can get frustrated, and you could see it building on them, but when they got a few centre passes back … and they can score so quickly when they have Jane (Cook) … you could see they got that little bit of belief back in themselves.
“Unfortunately, we just let them back in the game. But it was still there to be won at three-quarter time.
“They are going for their fifth championship in a row (this season). They’re a very experienced finals team and were never going to surrender.
“It was always going to be a tough ask, but gee, we nearly pulled it off.”
The Bendigo Strikers fell to defeat against the City West Falcons.
In a brave overall performance, the Strikers were exceptionally led by Seymour’s Elle Nexhip across four quarters at wing defence, while the Goulburn Valley’s Harriet Gall also featured.
“I think the best four teams were in those semis,” Brereton said.
“I feel like with every year of this new franchise, we are always hitting new benchmarks, so it would have been nice to tick another one (third week of finals).
“I’m disappointed we lost, but would have been much more so if we had got blown out of the water, like we did when we played Falcons five weeks ago (in a 16-goal loss).
“That would have showed we hadn’t learnt anything. There’s a lot more to come from this group.”
