The win puts Crossfire into fourth place, and finals contention, and coach Katherine Johnson said the whole team is “very pleased” with how they’re tracking especially considering their targets after promotion to the top grade was to “challenge for finals”.

“We’re all really happy about how we’ve been going so far,” Johnson said. “When we came up we were a little nervous about how we’d go, but now we’re nearly half way and thinking that we can challenge in the finals.”

Although the injury to Matthews definitely meant the team “had to run more than they’d like”, Johnson believes their defensive duo of keeper Belinda Alley and goal defence Lauren Flett is one of the best on offer.

“We build from defence and that is how we are getting our wins,” she explained. “The two of them being amazing at the back means everyone else can just do their thing, even if we’re down one of our players.”

Elsewhere on the weekend, Heat remained on top of the table with another major win, this time in the form of a 53-22 romp against Purnells.

Also in the top grade, Watters kept hold of second place with a 41-21 win over United Sass, while Job Done downed United Fury 58-33, leaving the defeated at the bottom of the table.

TABLE: Heat (15), Watters (13), Purnells (11), Crossfire (11), Job Done (10), Sass (9), Fever (5), Fury (5).