The Eagles took to the court for the first time under new head coaches Kate Donehue and Asher Arnel following the departure of Jess Saunders. However they never missed a step, comfortably accounting for the Blues to make it three wins from three games since the bye.
Speaking after the win, Donehue was thrilled to be on the board in game one, crediting a strong second quarter from her side to give it the advantage.
“We had a really slow start, and I would say that's something the girls all addressed,” she said.
“We had a really great second quarter and I think that probably set us up for the rest of the day. We shot 15 goals in that second quarter, which we haven't had a quarter like that this season, I think that really set us up.
“Numurkah had a really strong third quarter, we made some changes just to see how things would work and they came back at us. Credit to them too, it was a great standard of netball yesterday and we were very lucky to win in the way we did win.
“Numurkah, you know, maybe it just wasn't their day, they've got a really strong side. The next time we play them as well, they’ll be a tough opposition.”
Donehue also heaped praise on Alicia Callendar, who was the Eagles’ best player in what was a strong all-around performance from the side.
“We awarded our best on to Alicia Callendar who is a junior who's just coming up from under-17s,” she said.
“We've lost a goalie in Jess Saunders, so Alicia really stood up yesterday for us. She had some time in B-grade and then in A-grade, and she was great.
“It was probably it was a real tie between her and Amy (Sherlock), but just for Alicia's confidence yesterday, it was great.”
The Eagles move inside the top six after the win, and will face bottom-placed Barooga next week in their bid for four wins in a row.
7°C