Sting Prepare for Crunch Time

The Western Sting is embracing the challenge of taking on the unbeaten Victorian Fury in the final round of the Australian Netball League (ANL), to be played in NSW this weekend.

The Sting head into this weekend’s games sitting seventh on the ladder, needing to win by big margins and have other results go their way if they are going to force their way into the finals.

After taking on the Fury on Saturday, their final game of the home-and-away season is against Tassie Spirit on Sunday.

“It’s going to be extremely tough to make the finals given the percentage we’d need to make up,” coach Stacey Rosman.

“So we are focusing on the opportunity to play the team that’s on the top of the table and show we have the capability of matching it with any team.

“We have the potential to play well but it’s all about the performance, so we need to change that potential into performance and be accountable for what we produce out on court.”

The Sting have won four out of their eight games so far this season and are coming off a bye weekend. In Round 5 they went down to the Victorian Flames and the NSW Waratahs before claiming a win over the NSW Blues.

“We’ve worked extremely hard in the last two weeks to ensure that we are working on consistency, that we’ve got accountability and that we just don’t disregard possession of the ball,” Rosman said.

“Training has included working on ways to make sure that we have options everywhere on court so that at any given time there is someone to pass to. It’s those moments when you’re under pressure and you need to make the right decisions that we needed to work on.

“In the final round we need to continue exposing our up-and-coming athletes to this level of competition and make sure we learn from these opportunities.”

WEEK 7 FIXTURES

Saturday, August 17

Anne Clarke Centre, NSW

Victorian Fury v Western Sting, 8.30pm

Sunday, August 18

Anne Clarke Centre, NSW

Western Sting v Tassie Spirit, 2pm

FINALS

August 24-25

Netball SA Stadium

-NetballWA