CITY West Falcons got their Victorian Netball League premiership defence off to the perfect start with a four-goal win over the North East Blaze last week.
It was a new-look Falcons’ line up that took to the court with last year’s champions missing – Kathleen Knott with a serious knee injury while defender Peta Fay is pregnant.
Knott has been replaced in the side by her sister Julia while Geelong’s Emily Mannix will fill the void left by Fay.
There was also a last minute change on Wednesday, with starting centre Christie Barnes a late withdrawal because of gastro.
After going into the match with a mid-court which had only played one quarter together in the pre-season, coach Marg Lind was happy to come away with the win.
“The first game of the season is always tough and playing against the Blaze, I knew it was going to be a difficult night,” Lind said.
“We probably won ugly to be honest.
“Full credit to Blaze, they worked hard across the court and we were just trying to be patient and just waited for the right time to put the foot down.
“It took a few quarters for them to get settled but I think once that happened we were OK.”
City West will meet Boroondara Genesis in round two this week.
It will be a hectic start to the season for the Falcons with a number of players having to balance state duties on top of VNL games.
“We will be a little bit impacted by the state program because we have half of our squad in the state teams,” Lind said.
“Their opportunities to train with us at the moment are very limited because we don’t want to overload them.
“Once we get them back there will be some big improvements.”
