Tara Murray
Gisborne’s young A-grade side has pleasantly surprised coach Tarryn Rymer in the Bendigo Netball League.
With a number of new faces and many coming up through their ranks, the Bulldogs knew they would take some time to settle.
But after five rounds, the Bulldogs are up towards the top of the ladder where they normally are.
Bulldogs coach Tarryn Rymer is excited by what she has seen so far. The Bulldogs sit in second spot with a two goal loss their only blemish.
“We have a really young A-grade side and we will continue to build as the season goes on,” she said.
“I’ve been really impressed with some of the combinations with each other. We have a young goal shooter Tori Skrijel, who has come up from the under-17s.
“She has impressed me each week with Claudia [Mawson] our the front of her bringing her into the game.
“Claudia is feeding her beautifully.”
Rymer said the depth across their senior program had been important in the development of the A-grade side.
They have a number of players in their A-reserve side that can step up into the top side when needed.
Rymer said the inclusion of Zoe Davies into the defensive end had also made a huge difference.
“Zoe brings so much leadership into the defensive end,” she said. “They hang off every word that she saws on the court.”
The Bulldogs faced local rival Kyneton on Saturday in the fifth round of the season. While the score line shows a 54-26 win, Rymer said it was a lot closer than that for much of the match.
“Kyneton is a great team,” she said.
“We got the jump on them in the first quarter and we shot 17-6. After that they were really competitive.
“It was really nice to push the lead out in the last quarter, but the middle quarters were close.”
Rymer was full of praise for the Tigers side saying that they could push for the top five.
The side is currently in sixth spot.
“They are improving all the time,” she said.
“They’ve got the Man0gan sisters that can play everywhere and it’s good to have Michelle Fletcher on the court.
“We have a lot of respect for them, they’re a good bunch of local girls.”
There is a competition wide bye this week.
The Bulldogs face Golden Square the following week, while Kyneton will host Castlemaine.