Louisa Wall: Fast and furious netball season ahead

The National Bank Cup should be an extremely competitive championship this season.

And after the Silver Ferns' three-match victory over an improving England, there is much hope that the standard of the competition will be high from the outset as most teams have players involved in New Zealand squads.

Players will be vying not only for the National Bank Cup but also for places in the Silver Ferns to play Australia on June 29 and October 29.

In addition, the World Youth Cup will take place in Fort Lauderdale in July and this team, coached by Te Aroha Keenan and assistant coach Noeline Taurua, will take an unchanged line-up to the event, having already taken them to Jamaica and the US in February with a 6 out of 7 win record, including a match against World Youth Cup holders Australia.

The captain is Silver Fern debutante Laura Langman. She and her fellow under-21 team members will have an excellent buildup in the National Bank Cup with a good distribution of these players across six of the franchises, but noticeably none representing the Northern Force or the Capital Shakers.

Langman and Casey Williams form part of a Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic team containing fellow Silver Ferns Irene van Dyk and Amigene Metcalfe. They have lost Leana De Bruin to the Force and will definitely miss inspirational dynamo Jenny-May Coffin, who retired last season. But as always, if they can get the ball to Irene, she will finish the job.

The Western Flyers have three under-21 team members in Liana Barrett-Chase, Jessica Tuki and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Ricket and between them they cover the court, but there are no players of note to anchor such young talent.

The Auckland Diamonds are my choice to take the title this year. Complementing under-21 team members Maria Tutaia and Grace and Rachel Rasmussen are comeback kid and previous Silver Fern captain (until her knee injury) Anna Rowberry, who with Vic Edward as co-captain, is part of a formidable mid-court.

Then there's former Silver Fern and ex-Manawatu and Waikato girl Carron Jerram, a now consistently picked Silver Fern, Jodi Te Huna, and former Silver Fern and English international Jo Morrison (nee Stead) - who at the scoring end will be complemented by a defensive end led by ex-Australian captain and now Auckland resident Kathryn Harby-Williams. Finally they are coached by ex-Australian shooter Sue Hawkins, no stranger to success.

The other team to watch are the champions, Southern Sting, who are gunning for an eighth national club championship in a row under the mentorship of coach Robyn Broughton.

Donna Loffhagen may have hung up her Silver Fern boots for now but you can't get a more passionate Southerner and with Silver Ferns Lesley Rumble and Adine Wilson they have the leadership to do well.

Although the Northern Force are without any under-21 team members, Yvonne Willering's directorship always ensures they are somewhere in the mix. They have the experience and maturity of mid-courter Temepara Clark, and a shooting lineup of Teresa Tairi and Daneka Wipiiti. With Leana De Bruin strengthening their defensive end with Sheryl Scanlan and Kate Dowling, they are a complete team.

So, the competition will be fierce and if a number of these teams can integrate that mix of youth and enthusiasm with the depth of experience and maturity, the games should be fast and furious.

* Louisa Wall is a former New Zealand netball and rugby representative