Harcourts hold on title strengthens

The dominance of Harcourts in this season's Netball Wairarapa premier one competition raises one obvious question.
In a sport where initial possession is more or less evenly shared by the opposing sides through virtually having the same number of centre passes how can they possibly win their games by such massive margins?
In the nine matches they have played not counting the one in which Wairarapa College defaulted to them Harcourts have scored 620 goals, which means they are averaging almost right on 69 goals per game.
Their last three fixtures have seen them beat Carterton Red 84-17, Salute Greytown 100-19 and Gladstone All Blacks 80-18, which suggests their stranglehold on the premier one title is, if anything, strengthening as the season progresses.
In no match have Harcourts scored less than 50 goals, the least number being the 53 they managed against the side which looks most likely to play them in the grand final about the middle of next month, Kuranui College.
It's doubtful whether the superiority of one team has ever been so marked in Wairarapa sport at club level, no matter what sport you are talking about.
One wonders, however, how much the current situation reflects a lack of desire on the part their opposition as it does on the brilliance of the Harcourts outfit.
Are some teams playing them simply going through the motions rather than being intent on at least making them work hard for victory?
Or, conversely, are they simply so good that no matter how committed their opposition they are still going to turn over ball with a regularity which guarantees that at the end of one hour they have totally eclipsed their rivals.
Maybe a bit of both is the closest to the truth in that respect.
This weekend sees premier one matches played tonight, tomorrow and Monday evening and a brief preview is:-
SPORTS ARENA CARTERTON V HARCOURTS Genesis Recreation Centre tonight at 6pm: Sports Arena Carterton won't beat Harcourts but at least they have the confidence of knowing the 27 goals they scored against them earlier in the season is the most they have conceded in any one game to date. Rumour is that experienced goal shoot Kelly Sargent could be missing from the Harcourts line-up and Carterton Sports Arena wouldn't mind that either.
GLADSTONE ALL BLACKS V SALUTE GREYTOWN, Genesis Recreation Centre tonight at 7.30pm: Gladstone All Blacks were apparently down to six players when they were hammered by Harcourts last time out and back to the full muster they should be able to bounce back to winning form.
GLADSTONE ALL BLACKS V WAIRARAPA COLLEGE A, Colombo Road courts tomorrow at 11am: A month ago you have picked Gladstone All Blacks to win this one but Wairarapa College have been the big improvers in recent times and are aiming for their third successive win here. Their renewed confidence will make sure this is a close go.
HARCOURTS V ST MATTHEWS COLLEGIATE Colombo Road courts tomorrow at 1pm: St Matthews gave Kuranui a fright last weekend when they led them at halftime only to stagger over the final stages. They will match Harcourts for energy but not on the scoreboard.
SPORTS ARENA CARTERTON V KURANUI COLLEGE Genesis Recreation Centre Monday at 6pm: Perhaps the most interesting match of the weekend with Kuranui having the form book on their side but Sports Arena Carterton good enough to test them should complacency be an issue.
CARTERTON RED V SALUTE GREYTOWN Genesis Recreation Centre Monday at 7.30pm: Carterton Red must be getting sick of hearing they are still to chalk up their first win of the season but they got within one goal off Wairarapa College a fortnight back and a repeat effort could be all they need to take out this one.