South Rovers' defence plays important role in narrow A grade netball win over Dennington

The Rovers triumphed 49-46 over the Dogs in what Carter described as "a really good game".

"We played a really strong defensive game but then Dennington just kept coming at us all day," she said.

"It was really strong defensively by both teams but we were really pleased to get the win.

"The focus at training has been on whole-court defence, so no matter what position you're in it's that full-court pressure defensively to put pressure on the pass. There's no use waiting until it gets to the goal keeper and expecting them to save the day. It's about that full-court pressure and we applied it really well."

The win helped the Lions tighten their grip on fourth place ahead of the Dogs.

Russells Creek coach Stacy Dunkley said the Creekers' 49-45 upset win over Timboon showed them what they're capable of as a unit.

The win was the Creekers' second in a row and was a team effort according to Dunkley.

"Everyone put in and kept fighting for it and kept the intensity levels up," she said. "Our goalies had a smashing game and shot really well.

"Our defensive pressure down the court was continual so it was really good. It was pretty much based on all-round intensity."

Nirranda had a commanding win over Kolora-Noorat and Blues coach Lisa Arundell was delighted with her side's execution of set plays.

The Blues triumphed 87-18 with Arundell praising their mid-court defensive pressure.

"It's something that we've been concentrating on for the last few weeks and I felt like we could tick that off and say we did that to 100 per cent of our capabilities," she said.

Steph Townsend was a standout for Nirranda in her 100^th game for the club.

"Steph was strong on her drives into the ring and just the strength of Amanda (Gilbert) and Steph in the ring together, they make it so hard for the opposition," Arundell said.

The Blues coach commended the Power on their performance.

"Credit to Kolora-Noorat they didn't take the foot off and I think they've improved out of sight since we played them," she said.

Power coach Carolyn Carlin was happy with her side's "grit" against the competition's top team.

"Our first quarter we let them get away with it. After that we started to make a couple of different changes and especially at three-quarter-time we changed our team around a little bit and we set some achievable goals," she said.

"It was really pleasing the way the girls finished off with such determination was fantastic."

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