Top goaler faces test

AN injury cloud still hovers over Sandhurst goaler Claire Gibbs ahead of today’s A-grade netball preliminary final against Eaglehawk.Gibbs trained with Sandhurst during the week, but A-grade coach Melissa Ryan said she was not certain the key player would take the netball court for today’s clash.“We’re waiting to do a final fitness test to see if Claire will be available,” Ryan said.“She had a run at training on Tuesday and I would say she was at 80 per cent.“Jannaya (Webb) will play up in A-grade if Claire isn’t fit to play.”Sandhurst felt the absence of Gibbs in last Saturday’s second semi-finals, with both A-grade and A-reserve being beaten.Despite their disappointing week, Ryan is confident that Sandhurst can rebound and win its way into next week’s grand final.“I’ve got full confidence in every player on the court,” Ryan said.“We were happy with how we played last week, despite having two of our best goalers out.”Sandhurst will be facing an in-form Eaglehawk side, whhich fought back from an eight-goal deficit at quarter-time to beat Gisborne in the first semi-final.Despite the Hawks’ impressive performance, Ryan is confident her side will have the versatility to win today’s battle.“This weekend, it will depend on how our goalers cope with Eaglehawk’s tight defence,” she said.“At the other end, I think our defence will do very well against their goalers.”“Last week we didn’t have any options to change up our defence, so this weekend we’ll be able to change it up a bit if something is not working.”Although Eaglehawk lost both home and away matches to Sandhurst this season, coach Amanda O’Neill said her team has the ability to match Sandhurst all over the court.“I think we can match Sandhurst in every position on the court,” she said,O’Neill said today will be the first time the Hawks will field a full-strength teams against Sandhurst this season.“The good thing going into the match is that we know we’ve never had our full side against Sandhurst.“The first time we played them we were missing Carmel (Mulcahy) in centre and then later in the season we didn’t have our defender Lauren Ryan.”Both will be on the Bendigo Aquatic Centre court next to the QEO.