Veteran Karla Pretorious has been the defensive rock on which the Crinums' unbeaten run in TNL Power Week 1 has been built.
Image: Netball SA
Last year’s beaten Telkom Netball League finalists, the Free State Crinums, made it a perfect six wins from six matches, while defending champions the Gauteng Golden Fireballs recovered from an early wobble as Power Week 1 wrapped up in Durban on Saturday.
The Crinums continued their commanding run in Division 1 with a 56–36 victory over arch-rivals the Jaguars at the Durban University of Technology on Friday, taking them to 12 log points.
The experience of Proteas legend Karla Pretorius came to the fore, with the towering goal defence earning the Player-of-the-Match accolade.
“It feels amazing for Crinums. I think it was a great campaign for us. It’s over now, so we need to go back and do some analysis and see where we can improve,” Crinums head coach Martha Mosoahle-Samm said afterwards.
Jaguars coach Rozanne Matthyse admitted the record six-time TNL champions were second-best on the day.
“The Crinums took care of their ball. They made sure to execute when they had ball possession and I think we just made too many mistakes. Turning the ball (over) wasn’t the problem, I think keeping the ball was, but it’s a minor issue that we need to fix to come back stronger,” she said.
“We’ve got three weeks now going into the second leg and that’s what the first leg is all about – just finding those mistakes, seeing what we need to work on, so we come back stronger.”
The Fireballs bounced back from successive losses to produce a composed performance in a 58–49 win over the Southern Stings, continuing their push up the standings. They were third on the log on six points, behind the Crinums (12) and Jaguars (eight) heading into Saturday’s final day, but were in danger of being overhauled by the Stings.
This year’s campaign has been in stark contrast to last season’s TNL, when Elsje Jordaan’s team won all their matches en route to the title. This time, they have already suffered defeats to the Crinums, Jaguars and Fireballs, while two of their three victories came against the bottom two teams in the division.
Meanwhile, the Tornados maintained their unbeaten run with a hard-fought 51-45 victory over the Free State Sonoblomo on Saturday, further strengthening their position at the top of the Division 2 standings. Local side the Kingdom Queens also signed off Power Week 1 on a high with a 60-48 win over the Eastern Cape Comets, keeping them in second place in the lower division.
The news was not so great for the other KwaZulu-Natal team in the competition – the Kingdom Stars. The promoted side were unable to win a single match in the top tier all week despite the passionate support of the home fans, going down 49-34 to fellow strugglers the Aloes in Saturday's final fixture.
TNL Power Week 2 will take place at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg from 22–31 May.