HEATHCOTE joint coach Brooke Bolton is hoping a more settled line-up will produce a more consistent second half of the season for the Saints.
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After starting the season 2-1 with victories over North Bendigo and Lockington-Bamawm United, the HDFNL Saints have dropped their past five games to be 2-6 at the halfway point of the home and away season.
But there is a definite silver lining for the Saints, who have not fielded their full-strength team even once this season.
While a 2-6 record has the Saints in eighth place on the A-grade ladder, it's enough to have them only one win off Lockington-Bamawm in fifth spot and two wins away from fourth-placed Colbinabbin.
Encouragingly, two of the Saints' losses - against Mount Pleasant (round three) and Colbinabbin (round five) - were by just two goals, sparking hope their fortunes can easily be turned around.
"It's always hard when you go down by so little, but for the back half of the season, I have a lot of confidence in our girls, if we can get our full team together and together consistently," Bolton said.
"I definitely think we'll be able to flip some results around in the second half of the year.
"Looking at the ladder, I think everyone is a finals chance. Ourselves, we are one game out.
"We are sitting in eighth, which sounds really disappointing, but the competition is really even; we've probably put a little bit of pressure on ourselves in the back half of the year to win.
"We can't really have those close calls anymore, we need to make the most of our opportunities going forward to get those four points on the board."
Unsurprisingly, the only two times the Saints have come close to fielding a full-strength team were in wins over North Bendigo in their season opener and Lockington Bamawm United (round three).
"From there, our line-up has changed every single week," Bolton said.
"We are relatively new side anyway, so it makes it really challenging when you have those changes week in and week out to get a bit of a run on."
Heathcote can get its season back on track as quickly as this weekend when it takes on Huntly.
The Hawks - two spots and one win above the Saints on the ladder - will enter the contest on a losing streak of their own, stretching three games.
They won the teams' earlier season contest 48-29, when - most noticeably - Bolton and co-coach Kelsey Hayes were absent for the Saints.
Without winning, Heathcote has posed plenty of difficulties for Huntly in recent match-ups.
"If we can win the next two (Huntly and LBU) we could be back in the five or thereabouts," Bolton said.
"But we really just need to focus on one game at a time.
"It's been a long time for a win for us, we just need a bit of a reset coming into the second half of the season and to keep our confidence up."
- Coming tomorrow: HDFNL netball mid-season review
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