KEY POINTS:
The Southern Sting's stunning success in the 10th and final National Bank Cup has paid an immediate dividend.
Shooter Daneka Wipiiti and midcourter Liana Barrett-Chase have been invited by Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken to attend the national trials next weekend. Flames shooter Jade Topia has also made the cut.
For Wipiiti, the call-up has capped off an amazing transformation. Plagued by inconsistency until she made the move south, Wipiiti has played a big part in the seven-times champions regaining the trophy they consider their own in the deep south. In Friday's final she recovered from a nervous looking start to post 24 from 29 shots, many from a distance
"I didn't expect it," she said of the trial selection. "It's just the cherry on top of an amazing season. I just wanted to win the National Bank Cup title. That's all I strived for and trained for. When the runs became a little harder that's what I'd focus on.
"Anything after that was just going to be a huge bonus and making this trial team is it."
The Silver Ferns team to play Jamaica and Australia next month will be named on July 2. The three invited players will join the squad in camp from June 29 until July 1.
Aitken says that the players have been invited after impressing during the National Bank Cup.
"The upcoming Fisher & Paykel Series versus Jamaica, and the Fisher & Paykel Cup against Australia are really important in our World Netball Championships preparation, and there is huge competition for places in the team," Aitken said. "A campaign like the [world champs] requires a team of the 12 strongest players, and this is a chance for some of the players knocking on the door of Silver Ferns selection to show what they can do."
Wipiiti said she couldn't look past one player as to the reason for her new-found consistency.
"Donna Wilkins is an amazing person to aspire to," the 24-year-old said. "She's so determined and so passionate about winning and winning well.
"To have her out there leading by example would lift any team. You want to perform well for her. When she goes for intercepts you just want to go there with her and back her up.
"She's had a huge impact on me, as have the whole team and the community here."
The community was ready to welcome the Sting back yesterday, packing out the airport for their return.
It has been an emotional time for the Sting, who have made every final of the competition. A bad loss to the Force at home a fortnight ago looked to have stymied their chances of getting coach Robyn Broughton to her 100th game in charge. However they beat two-time defending champions the Magic in a thriller last week and repeated the dose against the only team they had not beaten this season.
Last night they attended a function at team sponsor's the Ascot but Wipiiti was expecting sore faces rather than heads this morning, "from all that talking and smiling".
Winners, after all, are grinners.
