Dive headfirst into the thick of local sports action with me, Brett, as I recount the gripping encounter between Rumbalara's A-grade and Echuca United. I'll guide you through the tactical maneuvers and on-field heroics that led to an edge-of-your-seat performance. Our journey through early hiccups and skill mishaps to Jess Bamblett and Tiana Steel's defensive masterclass is a tale of resilience that will have you cheering from the sidelines. Plus, get the lowdown on those critical umpiring decisions that tipped the scales in a match marked by three-second violations and the constant hum of competition.
Shift your game analysis gears as we scrutinize the netball match's pivotal third quarter, where fatigue became as much of an opponent as the opposing team.. I'll lay bare the challenges faced during away games and how the team is recuperating with the upcoming bye week. The episode wraps up with an examination of how Rumbalara pulled off a victory against Echuca United's valiant efforts, ensuring fans and players alike left with their heads held high and hearts full. Tune in for a session that's as much about strategy as it is about the spirit of local football and netball.
Dive headfirst into the thick of local sports action with me, Brett, as I recount the gripping encounter between Rumbalara's A-grade and Echuca United. I'll guide you through the tactical maneuvers and on-field heroics that led to an edge-of-your-seat performance. Our journey through early hiccups and skill mishaps to Jess Bamblett and Tiana Steel's defensive masterclass is a tale of resilience that will have you cheering from the sidelines. Plus, get the lowdown on those critical umpiring decisions that tipped the scales in a match marked by three-second violations and the constant hum of competition.
Shift your game analysis gears as we scrutinize the netball match's pivotal third quarter, where fatigue became as much of an opponent as the opposing team.. I'll lay bare the challenges faced during away games and how the team is recuperating with the upcoming bye week. The episode wraps up with an examination of how Rumbalara pulled off a victory against Echuca United's valiant efforts, ensuring fans and players alike left with their heads held high and hearts full. Tune in for a session that's as much about strategy as it is about the spirit of local football and netball.
Hey everybody, welcome back. It's Brett here with another episode of Shooting From the Circle where I go around and I follow the Rumballara Football Network Club's A-grade side in their 2024 endeavours to play finals again. So yesterday they came up against the Chuky United. Chuky United had a coach by Tan Edwards come from Shep, had a skills honed by Tracy Burton at Shep. He's an original premiership player at Chuky United. So she's come back, decided to give coaching a go.
Speaker 1:
So we knew they were going to be competitive. We knew that they were going to want to come out. They had a point to prove. They had a draw against Cobram last week. The week before they shot 31 or 32 goals against Tongala. They got absolutely smashed against Moema first game but have slowly improved Rambalara. They've had, you know, three in zip they were. So they've had three wins one good win against Yumerka. They come up against Moama and very hard-fought game. And then last week against Kingapna, again very hard-fought game, but they come away with the chocolates.
Speaker 1:
One of the things that Rambumbla identified after last week's game was that they were just too slow off the market. You know, first center pass of the game. They needed to be on, they needed to um be able to connect ASAP because they were. They were letting opposition sides be in front up until about halfway through the first quarter and then they have to peel it back and it was starting to play a toll on them. So they showed intention in their warm-ups and they come out and I think they scored the first four or five goals and they were on song. And then I don't know what happened whether it was, um, but you could probably yeah, you could say it was a cheeky united's game or the way they played or whatever. But all of a sudden, the fundamentals in this, this just a skill errors on both sides. Yeah, they were missing passes, um, passes were going over over girls heads I'll go on behind them instead of to where they wanted to go. They're landing at their feet. They were passing into the shooting circle, both sides, mind you, both sides passing into the shooting circle, and they were just missing targets, absolute missing, it was just, it was so sloppy. You look, I will be brutally honest and you would think that these two sides were sitting on the bottom of the ladder.
Speaker 1:
The way that first quarter was played. It wasn't pretty to watch. It was not pretty to watch, so Rambalara had a little bit of an injury with Jana Steele before the game so she had her thigh all taped up. Not sure what was going on there. Madika, she wasn't there, she wasn't playing. Um Hoi Bamblett wasn't playing, so they had Dejora from the under 17s pop up and they had Mariah, who played B grade. So she played a full game of B grade in midcourt and stepped up and was on the bench.
Speaker 1:
So you had Lani in wing defense, sarah wing attack, emily center, the shooting circle of Soph and Jesse Barnes, and then Jess Bamlett and Chandler Steele in the defensive circle and, as I said, that first quarter was, yeah, it wasn't pretty to watch. It was mistake after mistake. I suppose it was probably lucky because, yeah, the quality of the shooting circle of Rumbler and I've said it every single game that you know they got them over the line that they were really yeah it was. If it wasn't for their shooting it'd be a closer game, like at the end of their first quarter. You're looking at the score was 14 Rumbelara five Chuk United. Now you started thinking, okay, defense for Rumbelara was on, they were on. There was a lot of intercepts, a lot of taps. One thing that also was and it's funny. I don't know whether I mentioned it in my last podcast about the fundamentals of umpiring and holding the ball was one of them. Three seconds and that first quarter, they were hot. They were hot. And what impressed me the most about the two umpires at the start, I will say at the start what impressed me the most was our even penalizing shooters for three-second violation. Or even penalizing shooters for three-second violation Like the defensive rumbelara on the midcourt and attacking end for Achuki United was sublime, like they had him holding the ball so many times, because they just and what I did notice too is there was a lot of chat, a lot of chat in that Rumbelara defensive circle.
Speaker 1:
So, jessie Barnes, jessie Bamblett she is just, she's the general down there Her and Tiana they click and you can hear where she wanted Tiana to stand and Tiana would tell her where she wanted to stand, where she wanted Tiana to stand and Tiana would tell her where she wanted to stand. And I honestly thought it confused the midcourt and those shooters coming through. I really thought it seemed to me that they were confused. They just didn't know what was going on. And, yeah, I think they were confused and on where to put the ball, who to put the ball to, because all I could hear was Jess Bamblett and Gianna Steele just talking and coaching and directing the traffic, so directing your wing defence and directing your centre.
Speaker 1:
And yeah, I honestly think that Achuki United were, I think, a loss. They just didn't know where to go and, as I said, the amount of whole balls or how balls that they got against them, they're shooters, they just could not. You know they'll fake it a shot faking, a shot faking a shot. And Tiana, you know, as I said, she had a thigh injury and she was just still, you know, presenting in that defensive position. And just the quickness and the reflexes of Jess Bamblett in that first, well, the whole game, to be honest, but that first quarter they just had no idea.
Speaker 1:
So, as I said, end of the first quarter, um, a lot of pressure, a lot of hell, ball calls and a lot of mistakes, um, it had everything. So their quarter time score was 14 to 5, so nine goals up for rumble r. So they went into their huddles, um, not really knowing what to expect. I think, you know, I think Achoo United were thinking okay, we're nine goals down, but you know, we're hanging on, we're hanging on. I think they were still up and about. It was a hell of a lot better quarter in the fact, with Rumble R, that they were in front all quarter and they were able to capitalize on that being in front.
Speaker 1:
So second quarter come out, still the same side. So you had Jana and Jess in defensive, lani in wing defense, emily and Sarah just sort of switched around, and then you had Jesse Barnes and soph in that shooting circle, second quarter come and it was a totally different rumble outside. They came out and they they meant business. They come out with intensity, they were hot. Um, you know, jessie barnes was, um, yeah, she was directing traffic in that shooting circle.
Speaker 1:
Um, I've said it before, but poor old sophie though she plays a second fiddle to her, but so plays her role. And I started watching the way soph was playing and she knows that jessie barnes is going to demand that ball, so she plays a role as a like a decoy. She will come out or or she will. You know, the defenders are just not sure what to do. So they'll, you know, obviously jesse barnes got a name for herself. So they, you know, they double team her. Yeah, they'll double team her, but it leaves sophie out. So so, and then soph was shooting and she was on song. Well, she was shooting them from anywhere. Their mid-court slowly started to get on top. They were starting to work the ball around.
Speaker 1:
And credit to Tana Edwards. She's out there directing the traffic for a young and experienced Chuky United. And she's directing the traffic and she was playing hard out as a goal to fit our goal attack. Um, her and tiana steel had a very, very good, um good match together. Um, yeah, they sort of there was a few things going on. I mean, yeah, there's always niggles and everything else, and but, as I said, uh, jesse bamblett in goalkeeper, she just, yeah, just her reflexes to be able to smack that ball and she hangs on to that ball.
Speaker 1:
So second quarter was all Rambalara. They shot well, they shoot 18 goals to what's that? That's seven. So 18 to seven in that second quarter. So halftime it was 32 to 12, already 20 goals up. And that's what Rambalara wanted. They wanted to be able to be in front right from the start and then capitalize on it.
Speaker 1:
So there was a few changes made at halftime. So, third quarter, mariah come on to a wing defense. So lani come off, um, and then halfway through the third quarter, I think jess um, she was having a bit of a cramp, um, she come off. I know tiana come off. So there was a lot of, there was a lot of switching around. So jora come on, she played a goal, come off. So there was a lot of switching around. So Jorah come on, she played a goal defense and yeah, she was a little bit, probably a little bit lost. So Jess come off first and she was a little bit lost and then, yeah, as I said, with Tiana's injury, she sort of was feeling it a bit. So with the rolling subs, she come off as well and Jess come back on. So Tiana just had to have a bit of a break. Emily and Sarah were sort of working together. The thing is I was going to say the thing is that Soph and Jessie Barnes have never come off and had that rolling sub. But it happened yesterday in the last quarter where Soph come off and emily, who actually plays a goal attack in melbourne. She came on and was shot brilliantly.
Speaker 1:
So that third quarter there was a lot of, a lot of swapping and changing um the chicken and I did a lot of swapping and changing um. One thing I did notice so and I said at a start that I was very pleased with the umpires the way they umpired the game in the first quarter. It was like all of a sudden the whistle was put away. Um, there was times there where both sides got crucified by a whistle not being blown and it sort of yeah, it was. It was like it didn't um affect the game all that much, but you could see some of the players were starting to get frustrated again because there were some calls not being done and then there was calls that shouldn't have been done.
Speaker 1:
But in that third quarter and I heard after the game and Tiana Steele said it in the cup that that third quarter should never have happened and what they meant by that was Achuki and Ida came out with intent. They came out and, like, as I said, jessie Bamblett was starting to cramp Tiana with her thighs. She was sort of feeling it and Tiana still said after the game that they probably should have swapped a bit earlier. They should have did Because in that second quarter'm sorry, third quarter um a chick united shot 10 goals um to rumbler's 12. Okay, rumbler still won the quarter, but it was nearly even and the feeling after the game was that third quarter could have been pinnacle.
Speaker 1:
The defensive Rumbler, they pride themselves in being tight defense, they pride themselves in picking things off and they thought at the start, especially after that first quarter, they only had five goals. Half time they only had 12. And they were like, yeah, let's keep them to a bare bare minimum, but they come out. Chucky and I had a little bit more run and, as I said, they sort of injuries sort of affected um Rumblar. And then when you um, yeah, you start swapping and changing defensive ends and that you haven't worked with that person in training, whatever it's sort of you can, you can tell, you know, you can tell that um the jurors. She came on his goal defense and she was a bit lost and gianna was went back in the goalkeeper and um, yeah, that the shooters for um, uh, chucky and I was starting to get on top a bit. Um, and yeah, they'll get, they'll get easy goals. Um, I wouldn't say they'll free goals, but they were getting easy goals. Um, yeah, and so come into the third quarter, into the three quarter time, and the score was 44 to 22, so 12 goals to 10. Rumbler still won that quarter. Um, and yeah, they, they. Obviously they didn't like what happened in that third quarter, the way they were able to, chicky and I were able to score freely. They wanted to really lock them down Third quarter, last quarter, come out and Mariah went into a wing attack to draw a wing defense.
Speaker 1:
I think it was Emily. Emily went to goal attack and Sarah was in centre, so Soph had most of that quarter off. Just I mean, yeah, they're probably thinking, well, we've got the game won, let's see how we go come out and yeah, it was a warm day as well and you can start to see the fatigue and I think Rumble are at the bye, the fatigue and I think, um, rumble are at the buy next week and I think it's coming a good time for them. Because, yeah, there was a couple of girls saw, yeah, they've had four games where they've had to travel. Yeah, you've got girls from um melbourne and yeah, you can say, oh well, you know they wanted to play and they're from melbourne, you know, deal with it. But you know, when you're away for four games and you're not in your home ground and you know, and you're driving a lot and everything else, you know you've got these girls from Echuca United that live in Echuca, so they just hop, step and jump down the road and, yeah, you've got Rambalara that's had to travel four weeks in a row. So I think the bye next week has come at a good time for them and you can tell in that last quarter there was a little bit of fatigue.
Speaker 1:
But what was really impressive with Rambalara is, yeah, they made mistakes in that and they sort of peeled themselves back, realized what they had to do and fixed it. And their last quarter was massive, defensive-wise, midfield-wise, shooting-wise. I mean, they shot 22 goals in the last quarter to a Chukianite as 10. Doubled them. They really put the brakes on Achiki United. Yeah, like, good sides are going to score, it doesn't matter how good you've got your defense, good sides are still going to score and you know, achiki United, we're going to score, just you know how much. So credit to Rambalara.
Speaker 1:
They really, you know, knuckled down, identified it at three-quarter time and said, look, this is what we need to do. We need to really knuckle down now. We want to come away with a four-zip. And Etuki and I, they weren't going to give up. They were not going to give up, they were tenacious, they were fierce.
Speaker 1:
They started playing a bit of body-on-body and, as I said, there was was a really really good contest against tana edwards and tiana um, tana edwards is a little bit younger than tiana, so there was a really really good contest, um, but the shooters again, like jesse barnes, um, really just demands that ball, she really wants that ball, she wants to shoot that ball. Um, and her and sarah um, her and emily sorry, they work really really well in that circle. Considering that that's not their position, it's like it's not emily's position. She, yeah, she's a midcourt um, they work really really well and it and it's Chuky United's defence a bit to have this new shooter in, or you know, she played goal attack but Rumbler, they got their press going, they got their defensive pressure going and they really really nullified that drive that Chuky United had in the third quarter.
Speaker 1:
Now, chuky United would have went into three-quarter time and went mate, yeah, we've got this qualified. That drive that a chicken knight had in the third quarter. Now, a chicken knight would have went into three-quarter time and went mate, yeah, we've got this. Yeah, like we are a bit behind, but we're playing good netball. Yo, they're only two goals. Yeah, rumble are only two goals better than I mean that in that third quarter, so they would have come onto that quarter. Uh, in the fourth quarter went right. Yeah, this is what we need to do. Blah, blah, blah. But yeah, as I said, cream rises to the top and Rumballara, they just, yeah, put the foot down and 22 goals to 10 in that last quarter doubled their score.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, in their scoring shots and I was interested to know that on their conversion from turnovers, I think Rumbelara was sitting at about 65, and I heard Sofax say, oh, we could do better. So they know what they need to do. So obviously that's a big thing is conversion from turnovers. So what you don't want and defenders don't want, it is them to bust their ass to try and get that ball and not get them to score and then all of a sudden they get an intercept or whatever and it doesn't happen. Down the other end, the conversion, they don't shoot a goal on that and then all of a sudden it comes back. So, yeah, sitting on about 62 percent, um, yeah, from turnovers.
Speaker 1:
You know they, they, they identified that and realized that, yep, yeah, we need to. We need to really fix that. Um, we need to be, uh, a lot more proactive in in those conversions from um, you know, from intercepts and all that sort of stuff. They need to um, from turnovers they need to be able to convert. You don't get second chances against strong sides, so you need to convert everything you get um. You need to make sure as a shooter, you convert from turnovers.
Speaker 1:
Turnovers are your bread and butter. Turnovers is what you can get your one in goal in front, two goals in front, three goals, four goals, whatever. It's turnovers, because otherwise it'd be just a goal for goal. Center pass goal, center pass goal. It's those turnovers, it's that working hard in that midcourt and that defensive end to have reward, to work hard for reward. So they identified that 62% or 63% is just not good enough. So they'll work on that.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, as I said, final score was 64 to Rumbelara, 32 to Echiki United. So that's a 32-goal win for Rumbelara. So another big win from them. They go to buy next week, so they go into the buy for zip, but, but their first game after the Dubai is against Denny. So that is going to be a massive, massive game. You know, I said that Moema game was going to be a cracker. This game is going to be another one the following week. After that they play Tony.
Speaker 1:
So this will show where Rumble R is, and it's still early in the season. You say it's four games in, but it's still early in the season. So say it's four games in, but it's still early in the season. So there's still things you can work out. And it's probably good that you play these sides that you know you're going to come up against in finals. If you play them early, because if you do lose, you can look at it and identify where the problem is. If you only play them once and it's the second last game before finals, yeah, you've got no hope because there's no second chance in finals. If you're yeah, if you're in elimination or whatever, there's no second chance.
Speaker 1:
Um, so it's good that they can play these sides now. They can reflect on it. You know if they come away with the win, they know where they stand. But these next two games after the bye are going to be pinnacle for Rumble to know where they are, and I think it'll be pinnacle for Jess Bamlett and the rest of the leadership side. You know, to know where they are.
Speaker 1:
Now, as I said last week, they're not going to have Medica, I think she comes back after the tiny game. Problem is emily then goes um, so I'm not sure when. Uh, nikai bam, it'll be back. Um, and yeah, so they really need that nucleus of a side now not taken away from the drawer, and, um, the other one yesterday, um, yeah, they, they played a damn good game. Um, they, you know, give them more exposure to a grade. And the two young girls, you know, I think they'll be rippers, it's just getting that exposure. But you need that nucleus, you need that, yeah, your tier one girls on that court and to be able to, you know, work together once you know you come into finals.
Speaker 1:
So, as I said, very entertaining game yesterday. Yeah, it was first quarter, massive mistake. Second quarter, rambalara. Third quarter, I will say Achuki United, even though they lost a quarter by two goals. And then the last quarter, pretty much Rambalara put the foot on the throat, put on the accelerator and took off, and they know they need that. They've got a well-earned break. Now They've got the bye. I think they're taking it a little bit easy on their trainings and then they'll be back in it next week. First game back, denny and Denny Going to be an absolute cracking game. So that is it.
Speaker 1:
I really appreciate you listening to this podcast. I only do it for fun and it's only my views. But yeah, yesterday, another win to Rumbler. As I said, 64-32. 32-goal win in ideal conditions out of Chukchi United. But yeah, that is me, brett, I'm signing out. Thank you for listening. And next week, with the buy coming up, I'll just do a bit of a review on how I think they've gone over the last four weeks, how I think they'll go following the buy and who they've got, and identify the teams that they need to beat, teams that they might look and go. Well, they were easy beats, easy beats, but they're on that cusp. So I will do all that next week. But, as I said, that's me, I'm Brett, I'm out. Have a great day, have a great week and thank you for listening. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
