NORTH Wagga coach Matt Schofield says a recent win over Coleambally has given them belief they can be more than nuisance value in Farrer League netball finals as the two clubs prepare to play for their season this weekend.
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The Saints and Blues will meet in the elimination final, a month after North Wagga won a thriller 65-64 to secure their sole victory against a top five team this year.
But Schofield said the result was a mental barrier they needed to overcome before finals.
"The girls have struggled a bit with confidence and faith over the year, being a new team and not having played together and also not a lot of experience there," he said.
"It gives them a bit of belief they can stick it to the top teams, and hopefully we can take that into the finals.
"The girls took a lot out of that, they beat us by nine goals in the first round and we were down by five halfway through the last quarter (a month ago).
"They realised if we play our game and stick to what we're trying to do, even if it's not working initially, it pays off in the end.
"It was a big confidence booster for them."
North Wagga warmed up for finals with a 74-54 win over Northern Jets on Saturday, which had no bearing on the finals make-up but gave them a chance to finetune structures and defensive patterns.
The Saints will be without tall defender Karen Lindner, but Schofield is confident they can overcome her loss.
"That will leave us lacking a bit of height in the defensive circle. The other two defenders we've got aren't very tall, but they have their own ways of doing things," he said.
"When we beat Collie I had a short defender on them and their shooter is a holding shooter anyway, so the height doesn't make much difference.
"I've got faith they can get the job done."
The qualifying final will feature Charles Sturt University and Temora, who finished preparations with wins over Coleambally (70-44) and East Wagga Kooringal (50-43) respectively.
Unbeaten defending champions and minor premiers The Rock-Yerong Creek have the weekend off.
The other weekend result saw Marrar secure their only win of the season with a 54-42 victory over fellow cellar dwellers Barellan.