BARELLAN coach Jodie Landy estimates her team's average age is 16.
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But after losing 11 games by an average of 30 goals this season, Landy said Saturday's one goal upset of Coleambally was reward for mental toughness.
Coleambally was third entering the match but have now dropped to fifth, just six points clear of sixth-placed Northern Jets, after one of the shock results of the Farrer League netball season.
The Blues were missing some key players including Lauren Pound and Tessa Evans.
"It was like they'd won the grand final," Landy said of their joy afterward.
"Collie didn't have Lauren Pound and she's key for them, but they're still a top five team.
"It hasn't been ideal to put such an inexperienced side into A-grade but we talked about what the growth is going to be, and our expectations have just been to grow individually and as a team.
"The good thing is seeing how mentally tough the girls are getting. They're getting beaten and not dropping their heads and fighting through.
"The result on the weekend was a good pat on the back for their hard work."
It could have been easy for the Two Blues to fall apart completely after being on the end of some savage beatings, including a 60-goal hammering from Charles Sturt University in round two and a 56-goal hammering from unbeaten defending premiers The Rock-Yerong Creek in round six.
But a two-goal win over Marrar in mid-June, then a heartbreaking one goal loss to East Wagga Kooringal a fortnight ago, showed the drastic improvement which comes from being thrown in the deep end.
"The improvement from the start of the season to how we've been progressing through has been huge," Landy said.
"They've definitely got their heads in the right place, they're not losing that confidence."
Barellan were three or four goals up heading into the last quarter before Coleambally hit back to level scores early in the fourth term.
But the Two Blues regained their composure to secure their second win.
"I thought our girls wouldn't have enough experience to cope with that pressure, but they pulled it together," Landy said.
Landy nominated goal attack Paige Kenny, goal keeper Katie Anderson and goal shooter Brooke Anderson as the standouts.
Barellan faces the toughest test in the league on the road against TRYC next week.
Temora was the biggest beneficiaries of the Blues' stumble, beating Marrar 59-44 to move into third spot.
The top two sides continue to dominate after TRYC beat North Wagga 61-41 and CSU accounted for East Wagga Kooringal 61-29.
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