Namibia Correctional Service (NCS) continued their march to a fourth successive MTC Netball Premier League title with two more victories over the weekend.
On Saturday morning, they beat Afrocat Lions 54-42, and a few hours later beat their closest rivals, Mighty Gunners, 51-43.
That saw them remaining unbeaten after 20 matches, while they now have an unassailable 20-point lead over Gunners at the top of the log.
With only two league matches remaining, NCS cannot be caught any more, but since the league will be determined on a knockout basis on the final weekend of 4-6 September at the Dome at Swakopmund, NCS will have to put the champagne on ice for the time being.
NCS’ dominance is mainly due to the fact that they can offer their players employment, which leaves the other community-based teams at a big disadvantage, according to African Lions coach Dimitri Bittler.
“It’s not that easy for other teams to compete with them, because every time they see a potential player, they poach them. They sign that player and give them work, and that’s very difficult for the community teams – to compete with an entity that can offer a job,” he says.
“A few players from their original team of a few years ago are still active, but a lot are not active any more, and most of their players you see now are from the top-six teams in the league,” he says.
“But they haven’t poached players this season, and one can see the score-lines are not so one-sided any more. They are not hitting the 60s like they used to, so maybe it will change in a couple of years,” Bittler says.
He says the other clubs cannot match the NCS’ depth in quality and player numbers.
“The challenge is that NCS now has more than 35 potential premier league players at their disposal. They’ve registered 15 in the premier league, yet the rest are playing in the lower leagues, in the regional leagues, and not being released to other clubs, so the other clubs are lagging behind,” he says.
With NCS way out in front again, the focus now moves to the battle for the top-four spots which will contest the semi-finals at Swakopmund next month.
NCS (109) have already booked their place, while Gunners (89) are also through, but the other two spots are still up for grabs.
Unam Ogongo moved into third spot on 70 points after collecting two comprehensive victories at Ongwediva over the weekend.
They beat Extreme Eagles 48-38 and Okamwandi United 51-24 to replace Nampol in third position on 71 points, with the police team now dropping down to fourth on 62 points.
Extreme Eagles, meanwhile, collected two points after drawing 37-37 against Okamwandi United and are now just one point behind Nampol in fifth spot on the log.
Nampol hold the advantage in the battle for the fourth spot as they still have four matches remaining, while the Eagles have three remaining, but with only one point separating them, the race is still wide open.
Both Tigers, who are sixth on 46 points, and Afrocat Lions, who are seventh on 41, still have a mathematical chance of finishing in the top four, but it’s highly unlikely.
At the other end of the log, the battle to avoid the relegation play-offs for the bottom two teams is also heating up.
Bottom-placed Namibian Navy have only collected three points all season and will definitely go into the play-offs, while Smart Girls from Kavango East seem set to join them.
Smart Girls, in their first season in the premier league, have won three matches so far and are currently 11th and second-last on 15 points.
They still trail 10th-placed Okamwandi United by six points, and with only four matches remaining, will have to pick up a few more wins if they hope to avoid the relegation battle.
The MTC Namibia Netball Premier League log is attached.
