Stockdale hopeful sweet taste of victory might stay around another week

The club stalwart returned to the court this season after having 2023 off while pregnant and has thrived back in the club.

A long-serving volunteer for the club, she decided to take this season for herself and has been putting all her energy into playing.

It's a shift that's been well worth it's while.

"I'm really enjoying it, I was netball coordinator for about five years and within that time I had coached and done buts and pieces," Stockdale said.

"This year I'm just a player which is fantastic, I get to go to training, be told what to do, and go to games and just play, it's really great."

Under the guidance of new coach Beck Reilly, Stockdale said the team has been enjoying their time both on and off court.

Bonding together and seeing significant improvement week-on-week, the strides the team has made since last season cannot be denied.

"We've surprised ourselves to be honest," she said.

"Beck has pumped us up so much saying 'last time you played Mangoplah it was a 60-80 goal difference and this year it was half that' and to have her has been really great.

"Our run of games has been against those top teams all at once, so when we were trying to find our feet together as a new team we were like damn we have Griffith and Mango and all these top teams but we surprised ourselves and hopefully this second time around we can narrow those scorelines or even come away with another win."

Bringing Reilly on board has been a long-term mission for the senior club.

Heavily involved in the junior club, with her daughter, Ella Richens, stepping into the A grade side this year she agreed to take on the role.

Stockdale said having an off-court coach has really helped the side.

"She's amazing," she said.

"In the past we've had a lot of playing coaches and that's really difficult, I've done that myself for a few years and to have a non-playing coach is really great.

"To have someone on the sideline watching, seeing what's going on rather than a playing coach who has to try and figure out their own game and then figure out everyone else's games, it makes a really big difference."

Last weekend's win came at a good time for the Eagles, with Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong on their fixture this week.

The Lions have won just two games this season, one over the Eagles, and Stockdale said the group has what it takes to defeat them.

Learning from mistakes during their Leeton win, including a rocky third quarter that nearly lost them the game, Stockdale said morale is high among the playing group.

"At half time we came off and we were up and we were all stoked and our coach Beck was like keep doing what you're doing, then at three quarter time we came off the court even and she said, okay, so you didn't listen, you're going to have to step it up again," she said.

"So the halftime talk to the three-quarter time talk was very different but we absolutely needed it.

"In the past we didn't even really think about winning, it was just another game but coming off that win, we are feeling a bit more confident.

"We are down a few players this week but we've got so much depth throughout our other grades hopefully it won't impact us too much, Ganmain is always a tough game but who knows what will happen, we're definitely pumped."

Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes v Collingullie-Wagga at Mangoplah Sports Ground

Turvey Park v Coolamon at Maher Oval

Leeton-Whitton v Griffith at Leeton Showground

Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong v Narrandera at Ganmain Sportsground