ALL eyes will be on Malseed Park this weekend as West Gambier hosts East Gambier in the match of the Western Border netball round.
The Roos have been building over the past month.
One bad quarter cost them against North Gambier, but they have since put together two comprehensive victories over South Gambier and Casterton Sandford.
East is coming off a similar month, where the consistency is starting to come.
The Bulldogs had a comprehensive victory over Casterton Sandford, challenged Millicent strongly and last weekend had the measure of South Gambier.
It sets the scene for a tough clash and given their past two meetings have seen West right in the contest until the final quarter, it looms as a nail-biter.
When East looked sharp last weekend its ball movement was precise and its defensive pressure was relentless.
The Bulldogs did lose concentration in patches and dropped their intensity – do that against West and the scoreboard will more accurately reflect that drop away.
Tenille Gray and Sarah Lock were in sparkling form and finished accurately and they will prove a handful for the smart defensive duo of Nicole Butler and Amy Cram.
Much will depend on the work rate and precise delivery coming from Tarsh McCallum and Sara Smith and the East goaling combination would be well advised to work the front position and not try to give Butler and ram too many opportunities to contest in the air.
At the other end, Lisa McGregor and Tahlia Earl are starting to find their mojo and after a slow opening quarter, the Roos shooting duo hit its straps and they were able to find each other in range.
The battle between West wing attack Carlee Davey and East wing defender Morgan Amy looms as one of the most pivotal on court.
When Davey gets the ball in her hands frequently she rarely wastes a possession and her connection with McGregor is crucial to West’s ball movement.
Amy is a tight checking defender, whose work over the ball will make things tough for Davey.
Davey will also need to bring her defensive game as Amy was a key transition player for East at the weekend.
The Brenna McKay-McGregor battle also looms large and accuracy will be a key for the West shooters as McKay is rarely out-rebounded.
Bo Creek has also had a great month and her ability to cut off the cross court ball and her willingness to contest every ball will have the West feeders on edge.
The top four positions look all but set but if the Bulldogs were hoping to push for a top two finish they cannot afford to drop this game and given the form of McCallum, Gray and Lock in recent outings, they should have the scoring power to get the job done.
