The squad, made up of mostly representative players from Charlestown and Newcastle, entered the Charlestown Netball Association top grade just three weeks before the opening match, but have held themselves in good account with a 6-1 record so far.

“A lot of us had one degree of separation but we all have gelled together and we’re all very competitive … we really want to hit the grand final,” Watters said. “The first two weeks really shone through that we had the skill-sets to make the big game.”

“The only game we’ve lost so far was an unfortunate one where we had half our team out. We want to get a strong foothold on the grand final position at the end of the year.”

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Although individual talent reigns in the second-placed squad, Watters revealed a key focus of the squad was a “unity” between the players, with “no one player the stand-out”.

“We’ve got such a versatile team, and every single one of our players are equally important [to our goals],” she said. “We don’t look to anyone in particular and say ‘our wins are a result of you’. The whole team knows what is required and we don’t take that for granted.”

“For our team, no one of us is more important than the other. Everyone does their jobs, and the maturity and experience we bring to the squad now is a big part of how we approach games.”

Despite the defeat, Fever did have a stand-out from the match – one of their stand-in players was an under 13s representative player, Maggie Greentree, who started in wing attack for the squad and held herself in good account despite the eventual 19-goal deficit for her team.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Job Done bounced back with a 53-40 win over United Sass, and moved within just a single point of a finals position, while Purnells charged to a 58-26 result against United Fury.

Finally, Heat made it seven from seven as they downed Central Crossfire 44-14, but it was the defeated team’s goal attack – Michelle MacPherson – that stood out in the match, having played on with a dislocated shoulder against the league leaders.

TABLE: Heat (21), Watters (19), Purnells, Crossfire (15), Job Done (14), Sass (10), Fever (9), Fury (7).