HUME City Falcons kick started their Championship title defence with a strong win against Yarra Valley Grammar Ariels on Wednesday.

The round one Victorian Netball League clash at the State Netball Centre saw the Altona-based Falcons overcome a competitive Grammar team in the first half, to pull away a 49-32 victory.

Falcons coach Marg Lind said it was good to come away with the win after fending off an improved Grammar side.

“It was a good win, pretty hard until about half time then we had a portion of the third quarter where we got ahead,” she said.

“They made a couple of errors and lost momentum in the third and we seized the opportunity.”

It was a shaky start for the Falcons who were moving well after the opening whistle but failed to capitalise on opportunities, giving the Grammar a one-goal lead at the first break.

The second term was only marginally better but they managed to reel in the deficit to take a two-goal lead into half time.

After the main break, Lind’s charges got it together and kept the Ariels to just 10 goals for the remaining two periods as they stormed clear to take the match.

“It was pretty much what we expected,” Lind said. “I said to the girls before the game that they (Grammar) would stick with us for a half maybe three quarters.

“They did a really early pre-season whereas we didn’t, coming off making the finals in all grades.”

Goal shooter Lara Hickmott stepped up in the third term to help lift the side as did wing attack Jacinta Todd, Lind said.

“Lara, when the game was there to be won, she stood up.

“Jacinta Todd stepped up at the same time she began running a bit harder, increasing the speed in to the attacking end that helped.

“I don’t know if we had any stars, but it was a solid team effort. Definitely a good win to get because they are not going to be a push over.”

Up forward, goal attack Kristen Hughes and shooter Hickmott produced good opening performances shooting at 70 per cent or better to put 26 and 23 goals on the board respectively.

Next up on the Falcons hit list is the always-competitive Monash University. The Falcons have built up a tense rivalry with the Centrals and Lind expects tomorrow night’s match to be no exception.

“Monash, that will be a hard one, it could go either way. We are under no illusions. We played them, in the three years I have been there, in two out of the three grand finals. We match up pretty evenly.”