Nationals News with Briony Akle

Monday, April 18, 2011

A 36-goal victory over Tasmania in the final round game of the 17/U National Netball Championships in Queensland secured NSW second place on the ladder heading into finals.

Follow all the results from the 17/U National Netball Championships

Recording only one loss to Victoria in the rounds, NSW is now poised to make a tilt towards the Grand Final, but first they have to muster all the determination they have to get past home-town favourite Queensland.

NSW coach Briony Akle was pleased with her side’s victory over Tasmania this afternoon, and used the opportunity to once again trial different combinations.

“We’ve come a long way since day one and we’re slowly working towards how we want to be playing come Grand Final Time. We’ve put a lot of things together that we’ve worked on and we’re really happy and looking forward to the semi,” Akle said.

“We used a different team every quarter today. Any team would probably be guessing where our players are playing tomorrow so I guess that’s an added advantage that we’ve got.”

Queensland will be a tough challenge in front of their parochial home crowd tomorrow, but Akle says the team is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s going to be a tough one. Our goal tomorrow is to stick to the game plan. We have to get our basics right and have great individual performances that will lead to us getting the job done,” she said.

NSW will play Queensland at 11am on Tuesday, 19 April.

Keep up-to-date with the latest news on the NSW 17/U Team at the National Netball Championships