Cobram strengthened its grip on fifth spot in the Murray Netball League with a dominant 33-goal victory away to cross-border rival Barooga.
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The Tigers overloaded the Hawks early, shooting to a eight-goal lead at the first break, before going into half-time with a 25-11 advantage.
Cobram did not let up the pressure in the second half, scoring another 32 goals to Barooga’s 13.
Cobram coach Kate Bird thought the side put in one of its best performances of the season after a last round defeat against top-eight rival Deniliquin.
‘‘It was probably one of the better games we have had all season,’’ Bird said.
‘‘We said we weren’t going to let them jump on top, even though they are lower down the ladder, it doesn’t matter, it’s Barooga verses Cobram, so it’s always going to be tough.
‘‘We let the ball go and our time was really good.’’
Bird felt the strong result was built on the back of a committed defensive showing — backed up by some sharp-shooting in the goal circle.
‘‘Our defenders have been coming up every week and Meg Denson got best on,’’ Bird said.
‘‘Lillieth (Ukich) down in the goal shooting circle done really well.
‘‘Our captain Georgia Kerr also deserves a mentioned because she played centre for the first time this season for a half a game and did really well and she came on and shot very well in goal attack in the second half.’’
A top four finish is all but out of Cobram’s grasp.
The side has two finals-like fixtures against Finley (seventh) and Mulwala (sixth) in the next two weeks and Bird said there might be a silver lining in missing out on fourth spot.
‘‘Whoever finishes fourth is probably going to have to play Rumba, so I am not sure I would like to play them in the first week of the finals,’’ she said.
As for the Hawks, finals are now mathematically out of the question.
Coach Sharni Hazelman was disappointed her side could not put in a performance on the day Barooga was celebrating its 125th anniversary.
‘‘I felt like it wasn’t our day,’’ she said.
‘‘We have definitely been playing better netball over the last few rounds, so it was disappointing.
‘‘I think even though it wasn’t our day, we still try and we stayed positive as a team.’’
Barooga faces stern test away to third-placed Moama this weekend, but Hazelman wants her side to throw caution to the wind.
‘‘It is obviously quite hard when finals isn’t in the picture, but like I’ve been saying we have just got to try and finish the season strong,’’ she said.
‘‘We have go to go out (against Moama) as a team that has got nothing to lose and try and play a better brand of netball.’’
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