Tigers victorious in stadium while Demons stake claim as serious contender

After away games against Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes and Turvey Park to open their season, the Tigers returned home on Saturday and claimed a 52-36 win on the Bolton Park stadium courts over the Lions.

Tigers coach Jess Allen said it was great to have their first home game of the season and she was glad they could notch up a win over GGGM.

"Ganmain is always really tough for us no matter where we are on the ladder or what game it is," Allen said.

"It's always a team that we find really tough, no matter what the scoreline is it's always a lot closer that what is actually is."

Although eventually winning by 16 goals, Allen admitted it was far from an easy victory for her side.

"It was pretty tough," she said.

"The first quarter in particular was really close, our main aim each quarter was to get better and better which is what we did.

"It felt a lot closer than what the scoreline probably showed, but that first quarter and a half in particular was pretty much goal for goal for most of it."

The Tigers will play all their home games in the stadium this season while redevelopments take place at Bolton Park.

Allen revealed it was a bit different playing inside in comparison to their usual outdoor courts at Robertson Oval.

"We've been training in there, but obviously we haven't got to really play in there before," she said.

"It was kind of like just a normal home game for us and we didn't really think too much about where we were playing.

"But it was a bit different playing inside compared to outdoors."

The stadium wasn't the only unfamiliar aspect the Tigers had to overcome on Saturday as they came up against former teammate Georgia Tilyard for the first time.

Tilyard made the switch across to coach GGGM over the off-season and Allen agreed it was a bit strange to see her in Lions colours for the first time.

"Yeah it was very strange," she said.

"It was a little bit of an emotional week knowing you were coming up against her, me and George played together for six or seven years before this year.

"It was strange, but at the end of the day we both just want to see each other do well so we were fine by the end of the game."

It's the Tigers second win of the season and Allen said she was impressed by a fair few aspects of their performance against GGGM.

"We were really controlled with the ball," she said.

"The last couple of games we've probably thrown a fair few balls away which this week we really improved on.

"Our timing down the court was a lot better which I think helped with that and then we just tried a couple of different defensive set-ups that we've been working on.

"They paid off for us as we got a few turnovers as well."

Allen believed it was a strong team performance against the Lions but she also credited the individual efforts of a couple of players.

"Elisa Cook had a really good game," she said.

"She barely missed a goal so that made a very big difference for us and Claudia Wheatley played really well both defensively and in attack."

The Tigers have the bye next weekend before they take on Coolamon and Narrandera in the following rounds.

They enter the bye at 2-1 and Allen said she's happy with how her side is currently sitting.

"We are really happy with how we're sitting at the moment," she said.

"Our aim for the first five games was just to make sure we were improving every week which we definitely have been.

"Especially with our stop start to the season it's been really hard to maintain that kind of momentum, but I think we are doing a good job.

"We're still improving every week which I'm really proud of and I'm really happy with."

Turvey Park locked in a six-goal win over Leeton-Whitton at Maher Oval to secure their first win of the season.

The Bulldogs have built a near-new team under coach Niamh Boyer and have been pulling players in from a top grade squad to find the best combinations in this early part of the season.

They've benefited from playing in the Wednesday night premier league ran by Wagga Netball Association, with game fitness a particular strength participating clubs have taken from the competition.

Playing mid-week and backing up from last weekend's four-goal loss, Collingullie-Wagga ran their legs out in another tight game.

Handing Coolamon their first loss of the season, the Demons secured a 39-34 win, having not defeated the Hoppers at any point in the past 12-months.

Taking just seven players to Kindra Park, including Hannah Finemore in her first game of the year, the Demons showed that fitness and grit can outrun even a top level side.

Demons missed a grand final appearance by just two games last year, and have come into the 2024 season with a vengeance.

Meanwhile across at Mangoplah Sportsground, the Goannas had an expected breezy win over Narrandera.

Wagga Tigers 52 d Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong 36

Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes 74 d Narrandera 37

Turvey Park 59 d Leeton-Whitton 53

Collingullie-Wagga 39 d Coolamon 34