The biggest came in the form of teenage duo Angela Noonan and Molly Rae who shone for the Tigers despite what Bird described as a ‘‘tough result’’.
Noonan worked hard in attack after making the step up from B-grade, while Rae provided plenty of defensive pressure in her first full A-grade game.
‘‘The club is all about giving young players an opportunity,’’ Bird said.
‘‘These girls have earned the chance to play A grade, we aren’t just giving these opportunities away.
‘‘If they continue to perform, they’ll keep earning the minutes they deserve.’’
While the scoreboard read 72-28 in United’s favour at the end of the day, it could have been much larger if not for the efforts of Lili Murphy and Meg Denson.
The defensive pair made crucial interceptions and refused to give away easy shots to the Eagles’ shooters — although they made the difficult look easy at times.
‘‘United shot the ball as well as any team have this season,’’ Bird said.
‘‘The scoreboard shows we conceded a lot of goals, but it wasn’t a true indication of Lili and Meg’s efforts.
‘‘They didn’t once drop their head even when the margin continued to grow.’’
The Tigers found out the hard way that good sides will punish you for your mistakes, as unforced errors quickly turned into more United goals.
‘‘The positive is that we can learn from our errors next time we play,’’ Bird said.
‘‘If we can cut them out of our game, we’re going to be more competitive for longer against the better teams.’’
Cobram will now enjoy a week off due to the interleague break, before returning to action on May 25 against Tongala.
Tessa Bruni is the only Tiger to have been selected in the Murray Netball interleague team.
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