The 2023 Murray Netball League champion currently sits in the bottom four, having won only two of its opening six games.
That hasn’t deterred coach Grace Hammond, who says the side is still working on establishing new combinations after the squad’s two former Victorian Netball League players, herself and Milly Brock, have yet to take the court this season.
“I just think we're such a young group, and we have been for years now,” she said.
“Milly and I not being on the court, it is something to adapt to, but it's also not the complete reason for the start of the season.
“We've had quite a few different combinations that we've thrown out there and some new girls stepping up and even using some of the B-grade girls.
“I think we're just finding our feet for the season and that that takes time, and I'd much rather lose games early in the season than later in the season so, hopefully, we hit our straps at the right time.”
This week’s game against Cobram might go down as a turning point for the Blues, who snapped a three-game slide with a 43-28 victory over the Tigers at Scott Reserve.
Tonny was quick to grab the advantage, getting up by five goals by quarter time.
The Blues continued to press the advantage, winning all four quarters in a comprehensive team performance.
In the absence of Brock, Hammond’s other goalers have stepped into the role well, not just in this game but throughout the year.
“We're very fortunate that we have so much depth at Tongala right through all grades,” she said.
“Meg Brennan started the year in B-grade, but she stepped up into that holding goal shooter role, and she's filling that hole quite well.
“I've no complaints about Meg and the way she's going about stepping up to A-grade netball and Em Wishart and Jaz Clark, they've created a moving circle in there.
“It's a big hole to fill, but the girls have conducted themselves really well.”
There is no timetable on Brock’s return as she continues to her recovery from illness, but Hammond herself is easing her way into a return, seeing her first action of the year in B-grade this week.
With recent finals rivals Deniliquin Rams on the horizon next week, Tonny’s recent form will be put to test as they look to claw their way up the table through the middle third of the year.
“We know that we've got to play a clean basic game against Deni,” Hammond said.
They're quite skilled, (but) we've just got to stick to our structure and the things we have been working on and yesterday fortunately enough, a lot of that stuff started clicking.
“We'll just take this week's momentum into next week and not try to win a game of netball playing fancy netball, just sticking to what we know we do well and playing our own game.
“Not letting them dictate the way we play is a big thing when you play Deni because they can be quite dominant, so we’ve just got to back ourselves in and take it a quarter at a time.”
The game will be at Tongala Recreation Reserve next Saturday.
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