Netball: Chance to impress for Games places

By JULIE ASH

New Zealand's top netballers have everything to play for in the national championships which start in Invercargill on Monday.

Apart from the national provincial title, places in the Silver Ferns squad to prepare for next month's test series against Australia and next year's Commonwealth Games are also on the line.

A national squad of up to 18 will be named at the end of the Smokefree championships on September 29. That will be reduced to 12 on October 2 for the series against Australia.

Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering said she would not be naming an entirely new squad before July's Commonwealth Games, but players still had the chance to be added next year.

"The door is not shut."

This year's national provincial competition, which has been renamed to avoid confusion with rugby's NPC, has been revamped.

New Zealand has been divided into 12 netball regions and each region has a team in the first division, which has been divided into two pools.

In the first division, Waikato, Southland, Auckland Waitakere, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Tasman (Nelson/Marlborough) make up pool A, and Canterbury, Counties and Manukau, Otago, Western Manawatu, Netball North (North Harbour) and Eastern (Gisborne) will fight it out in pool B.

The teams play a round-robin competition before being reseeded to play crossover matches on the Friday. The finals are the following day. A second division of 10 teams will also compete, but there is no promotion/relegation system.

For some teams, the championship campaign began last weekend in an effort by Netball New Zealand to reduce the number of games to be played in Invercargill. Defending champions Waikato beat Auckland 71-52, Wellington downed Bay of Plenty 78-38 and Canterbury outclassed Otago 50-36.

Auckland Waitakere coach Marlene Flavell said she was reasonably happy with her side's first-up effort against Waikato - a team who included Silver Ferns Victoria Edward, Sheryl Clarke and Jenny-May Coffin.

"We stayed with them throughout most of the game, then they brought on Jenny-May Coffin and she opened up the whole court. We suffered from a bit of stage fright and they pulled away."

Auckland Waitakere, who finished out of the top four last year, lack the big names, but do have the services of New Zealand under-21 and New Zealand A defender Rachel Rasmussen, who was one of the standout players for Auckland in the Coca-Cola Cup.

Counties and Manukau have finished third in the past two championships. Coach Jan Lundon said the inclusion of Auckland Diamonds players Monika Gabriel and Kylie Campbell should give the side an added boost.

They are captained by Silver Fern Temepara George and include national squad member Nicolette Ropati, experienced goal shoot Janine Topia and up-and-comers Phillipa Te Hira and Channelle Lundon. Jan Lundon expected all their games to be challenging.

"I think all of the teams are going to be tough. Otago are the dark horses, I think. They have got Janine Brown along with Adine Harper, Lesley Nicol and Angelina Yates, who are all good young players."

Netball North were relegated to the second division last year, but find themselves reinstated because of the changed format. Coached by Marcia Hardcastle, they are captained by former Silver Fern Teresa Tairi. The team are without key defender Silver Fern Linda Vagana, who is having a break.

The only other New Zealand representative who has opted to miss the championship is Silver Fern captain Bernice Mene.

Hardcastle said it was a fairly new team. Only Tairi, Stacey Stewart, Owena Zanders and Vanessa Banbrook remained from last year's side.

Canterbury, with six past or present Silver Ferns, look to have the strongest team on paper.

Anna Rowberry has opted to play for the province, despite living in Auckland, and will join her old Silver Fern team-mates Belinda Colling, Belinda Charteris, Julie Seymour, Anna Veronese and Vilimaina Davu.

With the accurate Irene van Dyk at goal shoot, Wellington already have an advantage. Joining van Dyk in the shooting circle is New Zealand academy and under-21 player Jodi Te Huna, while Natasha Bergin and Debbie Matoe add experience to the midcourt and defence.

Southland can call on Donna Loffhagen and Bay of Plenty have the guidance of former national representative Noeline Taurua.

But for Eastern, Western Manawatu and Tasman, the first division could be a real challenge.

A New Zealand academy squad, under-21 squad and umpires squad will also be named after the tournament while a New Zealand A team will be chosen later for a two-week tour of Singapore next month.