PDFNL | Picola faces unbeaten Tungamah, Mathoura celebrates milestones

By Bransen Gibson

Jun 9, 2022

Milestones galore: Mathoura’s Casey Parson’s (right) is one of three Timbercutter netballers to salute a major milestone this weekend. Photo: Steve Huntley. Photo by steve Huntley

Picola United will return to action this weekend, hoping to bounce back from a pair of defeats at the hands of Strathmerton last time out.

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The Blues felt the Bulldogs’ bite on both the football field and netball court in round nine, losing by 80 points and 13 goals, respectively.

United should be well rested after a bye in round 10, but they will face a tough test this weekend against Tungamah.

The Bears are undefeated on the footy field and sit on top of the ladder, while their netball side has lost just twice this season.

Blues football coach Darby Walsh said pressure would be the key for his side if they wanted to hand Tungamah its first loss of the season.

“I think pressure will be a big part of it, and we will need it for four quarters,” Walsh said.

“Anything less than a four-quarter performance clearly won’t get the job done. I still think there is every chance we can get the job done if we can bring the right attitude and the right pressure.”

Walsh said he was expecting Tungamah’s skills to be on display this weekend.

“They are a very classy side, they have a lot of really good players,” he said.

“I’m expecting a pretty slick style of play. They’ll look to use the ball and take the game on.”

Meanwhile, Mathoura will celebrate a trio of major milestones in their netball ranks.

Cindy Falzon headlines the list, notching up game 300 for the Timbercutters this weekend against Jerilderie.

Falzon joins an exclusive cohort not just at Mathoura, but across the Picola and District Football Netball League as a rare member of the 300-club.

Emma O’Callaghan will also notch up a prestigious milestone with game number 200, while Casey Parsons runs out for game number 100 to round out what is set to be a memorable day on the courts.

But coach Stan Gilday praised the effort of his young side.

“(The squad) are growing and maturing, and that’s all we can do,” Gilday said.

“We played well in patches, but we just need to keep working on consistency.”

Gilday said the much larger Redeyes outfit and injuries made it tough for the side to play a quality full four quarters.

“We copped a couple of injuries again which put us down to two on the bench midway through the second quarter,” Gilday said.

“We lack height and marking options, and (Blighty) have tall options that can do that.

“I thought we had the majority of play, we just couldn’t capitalise. Our second quarter let us down because we couldn’t close that gap.”