THE bigger the challenge the better it gets for star Sandhurst netballer Meg Williams.
A back-to-back premiership winner with the Dragons in 2017-18, Williams has made habit of saving some of her best performances for the biggest occasions, hence why she has won the best on court medal in the past two BFNL A-grade finals.
The slick and ultra-skilful midcourter was at it again last Saturday, producing a pivotal performance in the BFNL's 55-40 inter-league win over a class Outer East combination at the QEO
While the medal for Bendigo's best player on court went the way of star Gisborne defender Maddy Stewart, Williams was high among a quality list of contenders, who made choosing a winner, an arduous task for coach Jayden Cowling.
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For her part, Williams, who has again been a key in Sandhurst's impressive 5-0 start to its back-to-back premiership defence, was content to have just played her role in a win, with a team expected to challenge strongly for honours at the Netball Victoria Association Championships.
"It's really cool to see the (inter-league) team come together; we play against each other on Saturday and seeing everyone come together and learn from each other is awesome," she said.
"(Outer East) definitely brought the intensity, especially in the first half, only being up by three goals at half time.
"We knew we'd have to work hard to get away from them, which were lucky enough to do."
Williams, who is again playing VNL this season with North East Blaze, felt the BFNL had the necessary talent and momentum to progress deep into the Association Championships tournament on June 23, and hopefully go one better than last year's runner-up finish.
"We know Geelong will be fierce competitors and going off last season we know we are up there," she said.
"We just need to believe we can do it and hopefully last the whole day."
It has been a year of change for Williams, who is studying osteopathy at RMIT and living in Melbourne, but gets back to train with the Dragons when she can.
"I'm only just getting that balance of netball and uni, but it's awesome to come back to the (Sandhurst) girls, who has so accepting and be able to learn a lot," she said.
"We are going along okay - it's a pretty new team as well, when you take key players out like Brooke (Bolton) and Kelsey (Meade),.
"Though we've had Ollie (Heather Oliver) and Bri (Dalrymple-Monro) just slot in, but we are still working on combinations."
The Dragons will have the bye this weekend and will play Golden Square the following week ahead of a grand final rematch against undefeated Gisborne on June 8 at Gardiner Reserve.
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