GVL | Seymour and Mooroopna set to renew hostilities in cut-throat preliminary final

And the prize on this occasion is a ticket into the 2022 A-grade grand final, where the winner will face Shepparton United for premiership glory.

Seymour’s second opportunity to reach the big dance in as many weeks, coach Ellie O’Sullivan said her squad would be itching to respond after falling to United in a thriller at Mansfield.

“I think we will regroup again this week and work out exactly where things didn’t go our way on the weekend,” O’Sullivan said.

“It was definitely a really top quality game of netball and we know against United that whenever we lose possession that they can easily score from it and we probably gave them too much ball.

“But I think using our opportunities going the other way was what cost us in the end. We got our share of turnovers, we just couldn’t turn them into enough scores.”

Mooroopna on the other hand returned to its best last weekend, easily accounting for Euroa by 18 goals to set up this tantalising preliminary final.

A perfect response to a 13-goal qualifying final loss the week prior, Cats mentor Di Hanslow said she was incredibly impressed with her team’s performance following the victory.

“Everyone has to play their role and today everyone did that, which was pleasing,” Hanslow said.

“The girls were pretty keen to bounce back, last week we didn’t play as disciplined as we had been throughout the season, so to get back to our style of netball for four quarters was great.

“This team has done an amazing job (this season), they’ve had to face adversity with loss of players throughout the season, but we have just focused on what we do have each week and to be at this point in the season now I am just so proud.”

Seymour and Mooroopna have faced each on three occasions this year, with the Lions leading the season series 2-1 after a stirring 53-40 triumph in the qualifying final a fortnight ago.

But with attackers Dayna Williams and Elle Brooks returning to the goal circle and in sparkling form after last weekend’s win over Euroa, Hanslow said she had full confidence her team could turn the tide at on Sunday.

“We have got nothing to lose next week heading into that game (against Seymour),” she said.

“You can’t win it unless you’re in it and we are still standing, so we will look to learn from what went wrong in that game a couple of weeks ago and try and rectify it in this preliminary final.”

While for Seymour, missing out on a grand final appearance and the opportunity to defend its 2019 triumph, would be a heartbreaking result after finishing the season as minor premier.

And taking confidence out of the win against the Cats a fortnight ago, O’Sullivan said her team would be hoping to channel that same intensity this Sunday afternoon.

“It is really exciting to be playing Mooroopna again and it gives us a bit of confidence that we got the jump on them a couple of weeks ago,” she said.

“But in saying that we know it is a do-or-die situation this week and it will be whoever plays well on the day that will come away with the win.

“The key for us is to be as disciplined as we can with the ball in hand, putting pressure on them to force turnovers and making the most of our opportunities in the attack end.

“We know Mooroopna is a strong side and have been all year, so we will be leaning heavily on what worked a couple of weeks ago and fingers crossed we can put in a similar performance.”

In team news, Seymour will welcome defensive stalwart Nakita Singe back into the line-up, with her presence alongside skipper Sarah Szczykulski pivotal to the Lions’ hopes of quelling Mooroopna’s dangerous attack end.