Laura Glendenning concedes it has been a disheartening start to the Newcastle championship netball season for top-four hopefuls Nova Thunder but is confident they are heading in the right direction.
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Glendenning has been a welcome boost back on court at goal attack for Nova after coaching while pregnant last campaign.
And, she believes the return of Brooke Fennings to the top grade after playing opens will also prove key as they target a finals finish.
The tall, high-percentage goal shooter produced a stand-out performance in Nova's 55-50 loss to unbeaten leaders Norths in round three at National Park on Saturday.
In a see-sawing affair, Nova were up 14-10 by quarter-time, Norths led 26-25 at the main break then Thunder held a 38-37 advantage heading into the final period.
But Norths finished stronger with a full complement of players, including NSW Premier League pair Imogen McCulloch and Abbie Gray for the first time this campaign, while Nova "ran out of legs" with goal shooter Lucy Geise and circle defender Georgia McVey away.
"[NSW Premier League player] Aela Streatfield came in for her first game with us and she fit in seamlessly," Glendenning said.
"She was a nice impact player for us to bring in, just with her pace and her confidence in feeding the ball.
"Our two reserve players, Ella McCluskey and Eliza Ginns, backed up after opens and defensively Tianna [Cummings] and Keely [Mullins] were fantastic, but full credit has to go to Brooke.
"She played the full game at goal shooter and she was a force to be reckoned with. And, she's only gaining more confidence after coming back from a knee injury. She's going to be unstoppable by the end of the year. She was on point, missed maybe one or two goals, and had a fantastic game.
"We gave it to them but unfortunately in the last quarter we ran out of legs a little bit."
The result came after Thunder succumbed to five-time defending champions West Leagues Balance (41-40) and last year's minor premiers Souths (44-38).
"We've had a tough run to start with - the three big teams straight up," Glendenning said.
"It has been disheartening not to get the wins from those games but we're walking away with wins and ways to improve, and the list of improvement now isn't substantial.
"They're those little things that game play is going to fix. But we were really happy with our game."
Norths coach Rian Hodges welcomed the availability of McCulloch and Gray and felt the new rolling substitutes rule again proved advantageous.
"The rolling subs was massive for us because we got a bit stuck with having Sabina [Gomboso] as our holding shooter," Hodges said.
"We switched that up, bringing Imy in there and it made it more of a moving circle, so that really made the difference in the middle of the game.
"It also took a bit of patience to get the win. Having the three weeks off, we were a little bit rusty and the start of the game was pretty poor.
"Nova were tough. They're such a good team and so athletic, and they just didn't stop. We were just lucky to have a full 12 and were able to push through and have fresh legs. That's probably what got us turnovers in the last quarter."
Norths and West, who beat Junction Stella 56-43, remain the only unbeaten sides after three rounds.
Waratah posted their first win of the campaign, setting up a 38-34 victory over BNC Whanau with a strong start.
Waratah scored four unanswered goals before BNC got on the scoresheet and led 12-6 at the first break.
They were up 21-13 at half-time but only held a four-goal advatange (29-25) with one quarter to play.
"We started really strongly but they made a few changes in the second quarter and we didn't adjust well to those, then it was an arm wrestle for the second, third and fourth quarters," Waratah coach Dwight Graham said.
"There was three or four minutes in the third quarter where I felt the flow was going with BNC and three times goalkeeper Melanie Coleman took intercepts and stopped them scoring.
"The ball got back down our end and that kept us in the game. If she hadn't have stepped up like that, potentially the game could've gone the other way.
"Goal attack Teesha Trentfield, who has come up from opens this year, also had a really strong game. That first quarter really set us up. She shot well, moved well. That was another key component in the game."
Souths beat Kotara South 54-27 in the other game.
Round 3
Norths beat Nova Thunder 55-50. Q1: Nova led 14-10; Q2: Norths led 26-25; Q3: Nova led 38-37.
Waratah defeated BNC Whanau 38-34. Q1: Waratah led 12-6; Q2: Waratah led 21-13; Q3: Waratah led 29-25.
West beat Junction Stella 56-43. Q1: West led 16-11; Q2: West led 32-21; Q3: West led 42-33.
Souths defeated Kotara South 54-27. Q1: Souths led 11-7; Q2: Souths led 21-16; Q3: Souths led 38-21.
