NDNA 2023: Wagin storm to dominant win to remain undefeated after round five

Wagin Netball Club remain unbeaten after their dominant 39-goal win over Olympics Gold in round five of the Narrogin and Districts Netball Association A1 competition on Saturday.

Olympics were searching for their first A1 win after being promoted to the division during the off-season.

It was always going to be a big ask coming up against the reigning premiers, particularly with Olympics missing players from both shooting and defensive ends from their starting line-up.

Wagin produced a powerful performance in the first half, led by the strong shooting combination of Jaelyn Ranieri and Courtney Webb, who outscored Gold 22-3 in the second quarter.

Olympics made a change to their shooting circle at half-time, injecting Liberty Tullett from mid-court into goals alongside Claire Conlan.

However Wagin’s defensive line up of Wynta Kapene and Kiana Roser proved to be too strong, and together with their mid-court, they fed plenty of ball into an accurate attacking end to keep the Gold defenders Watkins and Catherine Thornton under pressure.

In the end, Wagin proved too strong, running out 39-goal winners and moving two games clear on top of the NDNA A1 ladder.

A strong performance in mid-court from Fee Pocock saw her awarded best on ground honours, with Whitney Watkins taking out the runner-up award.

Other A1 results included Cuballing getting the points in a tightly contested match over Pingelly 54-50, and Williams proving too strong for Wickepin 55-28.

Earlier Wagin 4 and Olympics Cobalt did battle in junior division two.

Wagin proved too strong on their home court, taking the win 42-30 with Shawneese Garlett, Kalynda Davidson and Bailee Pike awarded best player votes.

Next up was the A3 clash between Wagin 3 and Olympics Navy, with Navy being undermanned coming into the game and calling upon casual player Cassie Andrew to fill their squad.

Again Wagin proved too strong on their home court, running out 55-31 winners.

Tepora Hotene and Stephanie Farmer were judged the best on court for Wagin while Olympics were best served by Harley Heywood in defence and Liana Hancock in attack.

The A2 clash between Wagin 2 and Olympics Turquoise was an evenly contested affair with only three goals between the teams at three-quarter time.

Wagin pulled away with a dominant last quarter, led by their strong shooting end of Jay Kapene and Laura Hutton-Storer, to take the match 53-42.

Kapene caught the eye of the umpires and was awarded best player votes, along with Heather Meldrum and Taylah Licence from Olympics.