Watch replays: Victorian Netball League, Peninsula Waves v City West Falcons

City West Falcons maintained top position in the Victorian Netball League with a massive win over Peninsula Waves. Watch both Championship and U23 REPLAYS.

City West Falcons goal shooter Jane Cook won’t forget Wednesday night in a hurry after a dominating display against Peninsula Waves.

The Falcons won their 15th game of the season with a 89-51 win over the bottom-placed outfit, Peninsula Waves, in a record breaking night in the Victoria Netball League championship.

And Cook was front and centre scoring 86 goals without missing one shot all contest.

It was the highest score for a shooter all season and it was a record breaking night for the team overall.

REPLAY

City West Falcons v Peninsula Waves – Victorian Netball League (Championship)

Watch the full replay in the window above.

City West Falcons v Peninsula Waves – Victorian Netball League (23 & U)

It was the highest total any team has scored this season with the Falcons scoring it’s fourth total of more than 80 in 2024.

From start to finish the Falcons were at their devastating best.

The Falcons started with 23 goals in the first term to open up a 13-goal lead before extending it to 19 at the main break.

The second half saw the game open up with 75 goals scored between both teams but the Falcons were able to extend the lead at each break to win by 38 goals.

It was a tough night for Peninsula Waves who have now lost 17 games in a row.

The only positive from the clash is that it provided the team with opportunities to give the full squad minutes during the contest.

23-and-under

The Peninsula Waves have kept their slim finals chances alive in the under-23 Victorian Netball League with an upset win over the City West Falcons.

In their best performance of the year The Waves secured its second win over the Falcons this season with a 50-42 victory.

It was their second win over top-four opposition as well.

Peninsula Waves won the game with their fitness and composure in the last few minutes of each quarter.

The team outscored the Falcons 21-11 in the final five minutes of each term, which was the difference in the end.

The Falcons tried to come back multiple times in the contest, and led at stages in the second term, but the Waves momentum in the game was too much.

Peninsula Waves shooter Charlize Gabel Joseph was on fire in attack, scoring 27 goals and missing only four shots during the contest.

The result leaves City West Falcons in fourth but Peninsula Waves are now three games behind, in fifth, with four matches to go in the regular season.

PREVIEW

Peninsula Waves co-captain April Bethune is more attuned than most to overcoming adversity.

For the first-year championship player, who will lead the winless Waves in a ‘David and Goliath’ round 18 battle against Victoria Netball League ladder-leaders City West Falcons on Wednesday night, her arrival in the state league last year was six years in the making after a series of injuries plagued the Drouin netballer.

The Waves’ clash with the Falcons will be the second of a live stream double-header on KommunityTV, following the 23-and-Under clash between the same two sides.

It was back in 2017 when the then-16-year-old Bethune first had her eye on trialling for the Waves when a left ACL tear sidelined the defender.

In a cruel twist of fate, in her first game back 12 months later Bethune suffered the exact same injury.

The second ACL was a different beast for Bethune, who had stayed involved in her netball club during her first sideline stint. This time, Bethune admitted she couldn’t “mentally” be around the game while rehabbing, with her surgery also postponed amidst a busy Year 12 load.

While the Covid pandemic further pushed Bethune’s return back, when she did get back on court in 2022 it was solely at a local level to ease the pressure.

Eventually targeting the Waves’ 2023 tryouts, a partially torn patella tendon could have been a dagger blow to Bethune’s VNL aspirations.

“That was really frustrating because that would have been another year I couldn’t play,” she said of missing tryouts.

But in stepped Stacie Gardiner, a Waves player and Bethune’s club coach at Drouin who pushed for the youngster to be given a training spot after another player went on maternity leave.

And once the door opened for Bethune, the 23-year-old stepped through, her training spot turning into a division one roster spot and an eventual club MVP award by season’s end.

“Luckily, I sealed my spot in the trainings and I was finally able to play after five or six years of waiting to get in the game,” Bethune said.

“Finally got into VNL as a training partner, then starting seven to (Waves) MVP, I just kept ticking these little boxes and thought, yes this is really helping me to want to keep pushing.”

April Bethune in action. Photo: Grant Treeby/ NV

Looking back, Bethune believed it was by taking those “stepping stones” she put her time on the sidelines behind her.

“It was more a mental thing than anything … that was the toughest part of it all,” she said.

“It was getting that confidence back bit-by-back and wanting to keep pushing to see how far I could get.”

Bethune’s approach has striking similarities to how Peninsula Waves have approached this season.

With just one player remaining from last year’s championship team, the new-look squad, led by the experienced Sue Hawkins in her first year at the club, are yet to break through on the scoreboard.

While a lack of results could keep the best of players down, Bethune revealed an early declaration has helped the Waves approach their season with a different perspective.

“We recognised pretty early on this was definitely going to be a building year,” Bethune said.

“So I think coming to terms with that has helped massively, there weren’t any ridiculous expectations that we were going to do amazing.

“We just realised, we’re going to build from here, build these connections and we’ll keep lifting from there.

“Obviously not having won a game yet, it’s still not disappointing because we can understand that we’re so fresh and so new.

“I can see on court how hard our team is trying and how much we’ve improved.

“We set our goals and it’s little by little we’re ticking off these goals and building that up together.”