REIGNING Betty Thompson Medal winner Maddy Stewart has declared her Gisborne side ready for a grueling BFNL finals series.
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The Bulldogs bounced back to top form with a 70-13 win over Golden Square on Saturday in the perfect lead-up to a qualifying final showdown against Kangaroo Flat.
The Bulldogs' 57-goal win ended a two-game losing streak after a pair of losses to fellow premiership contenders Eaglehawk and Sandhurst.
With finals upon us, Stewart believed those losses would have no impact on the Bulldogs going forward, with the slate now wiped clean.
"It's been a disappointing couple of weeks coming off a couple of losses, so we knew we had to play well against Golden Square and run ourselves back into form and get back to doing some of the things we had been doing well at the start of the year," she said.
Despite two wins over Kangaroo Flat this season - by four goals in round 12 and one goal in round three - Stewart is anticipating an even tougher tussle on Saturday, with a spot in the second semi-final the following week against Sandhurst up for grabs.
"We were really interested in that Kangaroo Flat-Eaglehawk game knowing we would be playing the winner. It was a close one, which is no surprise," she said.
"We were much of a muchness whoever we got to play, they are both incredibly strong sides and both very competitive.
"Flat have key people all over the court, but you do look at their defensive end, where they have so much experience down there with Alicia (McGlashan), Kate (Burton) and Ingrid (Hopkins). They are very solid, physical and competitive and do put a lot of pressure on our attack end.
"They also have plenty of strength through the midcourt. Chelsea Sartori is solid and strong and a big presence."
"Whether Annie (Spear) plays or not, we don't know. She is a really great target for them. Much the same Adrienne (Murphy) is very good in there too as she showed against Eaglehawk."
Spear missed the Roos' two-goal win on Saturday with a hamstring injury. A decision on her availability will be made later in the week.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are toasting the success of young defender Keara Fitzgerald, who was last week named in the Victorian Netball League (VNL) 19-and-under team of the year, alongside Sandhurst young gun Sophie Shoebridge.
A third Bendigo region player, Ruby Barkmeyer was named in the division one team of the year.
Stewart - her partner in defence for Gisborne - said Fitzgerald, who plays with North East Blaze, was fully deserving of the accolade.
"It was awesome for her, Keara has been playing VNL for a couple of years now and it's great seeing her make the team," she said.
"She plays more of a midcourt role in VNL, whereas for us she's more a defensive end player.
"Hopefully that gives her plenty of confidence coming into finals."
Gisborne will be aiming to go one better than last season's runner-up finish, with the Bulldogs ending the minor round season in second place with a 13-3 win-loss record.
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